"oh we are going to get along just dandy." erich says to marlena. he also seemed to have a coating of teflon when it came to staying in trouble. a good dose of being endearing went a long way. also,in erich's case an army of well paid lawyers from studio60 did help. erich was already wanting to scoop ada and marlena up and take them to belgium. eris and takara could use back up with the older summers children. the kids there never got mean with each other,but it was inevitable that the older ones would align against the younger ones. if erich recalled,marlena and takara were very close in age.

"lenience is virtue,miss ada. especially with a child who rarely gets in trouble. for very long,at least." erich grins to ada and marlena. whatever ada had been doing seemed to work,so there was no reason to change now. one could tell rotten kids and marlena didnt seem to have that nasty streak in her at all. maybe she could even meet dustyn's son,shay. but NOT billy's son. erich would punt that little bastard before he let her near marlena.

erich's eyes widened at the rather curt response by ada. he still sort of smirked at it. his memory wasnt that far off from reality. ada did not appreciate being second guessed. it brought back that memory of a lifetime ago aboard the duke.erich was quiet for a moment and watched marlena with the games. the lights cast a wonderful reflection on her face. if this wasnt the best scenario for psychedelics,what was? erich leaned back in his own side of the booth and drummed his fingers lightly on the table. "honestly,i was joking when i first mentioned it. but...if you want to do it with me,i am all in on doing it with you. ada,do it with me." erich laughs and holds out his hand for a handshake.

after getting what may have been the most unsure handshake in recent history,erich gave a nod of enthusiasm to ada. this had bad idea written all over it. doing powerful,mind altering substances with someone you're divorced from,have only been around for a couple hours,already established to have mental issues...oh,and has escaped from a cult. this was right up there with william s burroughs playing william tell...only with slightly less potential for death. but,no good time ever began with reading a book and drinking milk. erich wanted to answer ada's question honestly. the responsible thing would be to dissuade her,but he was assumed her question was a formality after he previous statement. "well...worst case scenario,we call someone to save us. i'm sure i know someone who could be here in an hour or so to trip sit." erich says quietly. he didnt even bother to ask if ada had a sitter for marlena. current subject being exempted,she didnt seem to be irresponsible.

"that sounds like a plan." erich agrees. "im at the fitzpatrick grand central. room 508. i'd like to have been at the chelsea,but this god forsaken city cannot get it's crap together." erich says with a hint of seriousness in his voice. he desperately wanted to stay in such a hotel and did blame the physical city itself for it still being renovated. he decided to stay at a semi decent hotel in case marlena had wanted to visit. if not? well,he'd have been fine dodging bullets in the seediest place he could find. he liked adventure.

it was absurd that erich had more than enough money to possibly buy the ice cream parlor,but couldnt give his daughter coins to play some games. if he ever got the duke back from mariko,there were games a plenty on there for her to play. providing her mother had marlena's tetanus shots up to date. " there will be plenty of games in your future,miss marlena. your mom and i will make sure of it." he tells her as he gets up.

in the hours since the split from his ex wife and daughter,erich had returned to the hotel he had rented for the weekend. logic would have dictated that he just save the few hundred bucks and stay with selene outside the city. but he wasnt sure how the meeting with ada was going to go and he tended to deal with the bad in life alone. it was easier to feel sorry for yourself in private. renting the room displayed exactly how he thought this was going to go,a pessimist through and through. erich had also changed into something far more comfortable. it was a rare time of him wearing shorts in the presence of someone else. a stolen jimmy buffett shirt covered his toso,and he didnt even bother with shoes . if people didnt know better,they could easily assume he liked jimmy buffett by wearing this outfit. his ears perked up when the knock on the door was heard. it had to be ada,nobody else knew he was here. he looked out the peep hole to see a familiar face. "umm..hello." he says when he opens the door. without the marlena buffer,the awkaredness had came back a bit for erich. he wanted to ask if she had come from a date,but didnt want to upset her. it wasa a nice outfit,ada always did seem to like black and white.

"i..kinda didnt expect you to come." erich laughs softly when ada padded into the room. there were probably a hundred good reasons for her to have called it off. he really couldnt think of many that would have pushed her to come here. still,it was nice that she was here. today had went well,so erich would have been in search of company. even it was his original plan of taking up a spot at some bar and holding court. "what,this old thing? i just threw it on." erich jokes,holding the shirt away from his torso as if it were trying to cling to him. "i stole this from key west. somehow cassie booked us to open..open,i say! for a jimmy buffett tribute band. i think she was still trying to dominate karoliena in some way." erich laughs and gestures towards the living area of the suit. there were chairs that werent as comfortable as they looked,a coffee table and a gideons bible. erich didnt want to touch it. he assumed all these books were covered in dried bodily fluids. "you..um,look nice. i kinda feel underdressed in my own room. " he tells her with a grin

"yeah..a little." erich says,looking down at the carpet that was far too nice to have his feet on it. he didnt really want to admit the reason behind his thinking ada wouldnt come was her having no real reason to be around him now. he guessed mescaline wasnt that common,but it could be ordered in raw form off ebay if one was so inclined. stiil,if she was here for the drugs,he had to admit he admired her living up to the words erich glommed on to from doctor thompson: buy the ticket,take the ride. erich did love ada's sounds of delight. they were just so genuine. " oh yeah. we also performed my head hurts,my feet stink,and i dont love jesus. it was a dick move as they were really innocent,but how innocent can any one in a jimmy buffett tribute band be?" erich asks as this was day one stuff anyone should know. he respected ada's wishes of retirement,but couldnt see how anyone would want to not to be a musican anymore. maybe being responsible for a child affected that. his other friends seem to handle it fine though. erich took a chair across from ada and brought his ankle over one of his knees. " so...you want to get down to it,or relax for a bit. even if we take it now-" he starts,but stops himself. ada knew what she was getting in to. he didnt want to offend her again.

the beauty of being split from someone was the honesty it let loose. there was no more pressure to attempt to please the person across from you anymore. no more looking to avoid a fight. "well. lets face it. without marlena,you have no reason to have to be around me." he states simply. he does busy himself with tipping over the coconut monkey that decorated the table between them. he had packed it with many of the substances he wanted. a bent blunt and several pale green capsules spill out. usually erich just chewed the cactus itself,but it was easier getting pills on to a plane. he looks down at the spilled substances and to ada before pushing several capsules over to her. it was both exciting and odd to be doing this with ada. she had spent the better part of the waning days of their relationship trying to get him to stop...and here she was looking to partake with him. he places his flask on the table for something to wash down the capsules with. "you go first,miss ada. i dont want you backing out after i've taken the plunge." he says with a wink to her.

"no no no." erich replies to ada,nearly reaching his hands out to stop her. he didnt want her to leave at all. on the surface it was because he felt she already had the sitter and traveled here. but under that,he still thoroughly enjoyed her company. "i..it's nice to be around you again,miss ada. i really did miss you...after the initial fury waned." erich laughs at the situation. there was a time when bruised ego demanded he feel bitter about things,but that eventually cooled into just wanting her to be ok. which is where things were now. erich watches ada's apprehension and fights the urge to retort that she knows how this works. it might come off as mean rather than good natured. if erich was anything,it was good natured.
"yes. it's really just the ground up cactus. its not concentrated or anything." he explains to ada,looking at the pills. " you know,we dont have to. if you just want to sit and talk,that is fine too. i still have a few hours on my pledge to be sober today." he smiles at ada. if she backed out now,he certainly wouldnt hold it against her.

it did hurt a bit to hear that ada missed him every day. this was far easier when she was just a one dimensional evil villain. erich returned a small smile to ada. they did make a good pair in spite of all that happened. this is also the first time erich realized this might be a bad idea in ways other than ada not being able to handle the drugs. ada was here (hopefully) for at least ten hours. he didnt want her wandering around the city on a hallucinogen alone. this...this could be hard to explain to anyone looking in. "you should have just told me,ada. id have understood..maybe." erich replies with a small smile. with ada now seemingly fine,he didnt have any bitterness towards her. but he was certain that later tonight,it would all come out. if they wanted it to or not. so he wanted to get a head start on that. erich watched ada take the pills and pass the point of no return...well,depending on if she could make herself throw up. a flash of sadness crossed erich's face when he realized she probably could. erich took the capsules and swallowed them sans liquid. it probably wasnt a skill to be proud of,but he'd long since passed the point where he needed to drink to take pills. "now we play the waiting game. " he says optimistically. "its shame we dont have the duke. this is so much better outside."

when ada brought up particulars of the cult,erich was instantly sorry he had spoken. to him it didnt matter what went on. it was the past and nothing could change that. the future may be unwritten,but the past was etched in stone. erich understood the allure of the disappearing. he did it all the time with the duke. he spend many a week out in the middle of the ocean. only having open sea in all directions...there was an appeal to feeling like one was outside of time. "i...shouldnt have said that. i am sorry. the past doesnt matter,the future doesnt either. it's just the moment." erich said ,attempting to not have the conversation about that part of ada's life. gretchen wasnt just the jokingly referred to spiritual leader of the hess clan. her bringing Buddhist thought to the group had served to bring calm to a group of of people looking for direction. "miss ada, do you thing either of us would have went to counseling? " erich laughs to ada. they were both to proud to do such a thing or to air the worst parts of their relationship to a third party. erich was fine diving as bluntly into the past as they could. this was probably the best time to do it. "the duke is going strong." erich assures ada. it was a constant in the whirlwind of life. the old ship kept in chugging. " mariko has it. she and vara are in jamaica and having a great time from what i hear." he says with a small smile to ada. he could only assume that mariko and vara were on some level,reconciling. erich looks around and opens the mini bar for ada. "16 dollar can of sprite? its on studio60's dime." he grins devilishly. atomic war bride had what most people would consider a terrible contract: most profits went to studio60. but money wasnt important to erich. he just wanted to be able to freely sow chaos.