|
Calamity's making true on their promise (threat?) to show up unannounced at the boat Rena's been staying on. Knowing well enough not to try to get on board, but...maybe they're trying to catch Rena as she enters or leaves. The sun's just gone down, it's right around the time when vampires are supposed to wake up, anyway. Despite the heat, they've still got their sweatshirt on - unzipped, over a t-shirt with a faded, vintage comic book cover on. Their hood is up (it's always up, in public,) and they light up a cigarette as they just kinda...lurk, waiting to see if Rena's around.
It takes a bit, but Rena saunters off the boat, carrying a much less full duffle than usual. Perks of not having to carry all your clothes with you all the time. When she steps off, she does a quick stretch, gets back her land legs and saunters off looking at her phone. She's got a frustrated expression on her face as she walks by and is starting to head to a nearby park.
Of course Calamity follows. At a distance, quietly, but not bothering to extinguish their cigarette. Only kinda hiding from Rena. Their heartbeat is there, sure, but will Rena notice it among all the other people that might be wandering around at this time of night?
How many people are wandering around at this time of night, though?
There are only a few heart beats but none so erratic or slow that they stick out. If she payed attention to everything she'd never get anything done. So she walks through the park, pocketing her phone to inspect the various homeless people she passes. She also withdraws a small, crumpled, brown paper bag from her duffel that she holds shut.
Calamity continues to keep their distance, taking slow drags of their cigarette as they eye Rena from halfway behind a tree.
She eventually finds someone who both of them twig as a addict immediately and squats down next to him. "Yo, hoss, it's your lucky day! You just got a visit from the heroin fairy! I will give you free drugs and a clean needle if you let me kiss your wrist. 'Nd before you start thinkin' I'm just some pervert," she reaches into the bag to pull out some vials of heroin, "I got the goods right here. What do you say?"
The man mulls it over, taking a long enough time for Calamity to jump in if they want to.
It's probably not too terrifying, to have a small, hooded form suddenly approach, the cherry of their cigarette doing little to illuminate their face. Probably.
"Hey, sis." Calamity speaks loud enough to make it obvious that 1 - they're there and 2 - that they know what's going on.
"Want in too?" Rena asks the approaching figure before they speak. Then her stomach drops. "Sorry, deal's over," she says to the junkie as she springs up to standing.
"This is absolutely not what it looks like, Bug. I'm trying to, you know," she pantomimes a vampire sucking someone's blood. "It's a good way to find food. That's it." That lie would probably have more weight to it were it not for the years and years of drug lies she's spouted.
"Cut the fuckin' bullshit, Rena," Calamity growls, and jerks their head to get her to come closer. "Fuck's up with you?" It's angry - but also a little scared.
Rena complies and walks forward, her stance ready to fight or flight at any moment. "Okay, okay, I'm usin' again. But it's okay, I'm not addicted or anything. I'm actually doing this to stop a magic vampire addiction. 's like methadone clinics, 'cept it keeps me from having to feed as much," Rena says with a lot of conviction. She almost entirely believes it and the parts of that are questioning it want to believe too bad.
"...." Calamity turns to walk with her. "You can stop any time, huh?" Sarcasm drips from their voice.
"I mean, yeah, but then I'd have to go back to the worse shit that I actually am fucking hooked on," Rena says, her face trying very very hard to look neutral and not terrified. The second they're out of earshot of anyone else, she adds, "'member how I said not to drink our blood? The guy who made me a vamp used to give me his blood so I wouldn't have to hunt and we could keep a low profile. And you get fucking hooked on it. It feels fucking better than anything else I've done, Jesus Christ." She starts to violently scratch at her arm, the way she does and has done for years when she needs a fix.
"...So it's fine just 'cause it's not as bad as the shit you could be doing?" They flash her a Look, eyebrows raised, and take a hard drag on their cigarette, their gaze drifting down to her arm. It's only then that their face softens into something closer to concern. "Guy know about this? Phaedra?"
"Guy knows parts. Who gives a fuck about what Phaedra knows? I went to visit her yesterday and she just spent all night pickin' at every insecurity I had 'nd then called me a liar for tellin' her to shut up. After we smooched too. It fucking sucked," Rena explains. She leaves out the whole, "and then I really wanted to get high but I didn't bring drugs so I had to go home but the sun was rising so I didn't get to go out till now" part.
"'Nd yeah. It's just to cover up other cravings. Like when you break your arm and punch yourself in the face to make it hurt less," she says, like that's a common experience people have had.
"...Oh. Maybe she's doin' that 'cause she cares about you." Calamity's voice is quiet, like they're afraid of what Rena's reaction might be. "But...yeah I know how that shit is. Findin' a distraction from...whatever the fuck." That sure is vague, Calamity.
"It ain't her fault. She's good people, she just... ain't good for me. I can't deal with my shit 24-7, specially when people keep tryin' to tell me shit about me like they know me better than me." Her reaction is not one she would have given before her disappearance. It's defeated, resigned sadness and guilt.
"Distraction, yeah," Rena says, nodding, "Just tryin' to make shit less awful all day every day. And double secret vampire club is probably monitoring how much blood I'm takin' from its members. Guy for sure is. So this is better on that front too. 'sides, I'm giving charity to an underserved community."
Calamity stops, turning to face Rena head on. "Bullshit. That's a whole bunch'a fuckin' bullshit, Rena - you could stand to have people to make you deal with your shit. You ask your double secret vampire club for help with your addiction? Like...I dunno, 're you the only one who's tryin' to deal with this?"
"They're gonna cut me off when I break this mind control thing I got goin' on. But that's going to be a whole fucking thing where I gotta basically get myself tortured to break free. Odds aren't bad I'll frenzy. It'll suck big time," Rena says, idly kicking a stray pebble as far as she can. "'nd I think I deserve better than havin' people shove my face in my own shit every time I try to talk about random crap like Dario Argento films."
"I mean. Phaedra kinda does that - 's what you get, with her. You -" Calamity pauses as the rest of what Rena's said catches up to them. "Mind control?"
"'s nothin' big. If you drink a lot of one vamp's blood, you just get kinda obsessed with 'em. I drank a lot of my sire's blood, so there's always a bit of him in me. I learned a way to fix it, but it's not a thing you can do alone and I might get cut in half with a battleaxe if I say any more 'bout the process," Rena says, miming locking her lips with a key, "Amd I just figured that if we were gonna be close enough with each other to smooch, she'd have the decency to not do that to me every time, same way I didn't shoot up in her living room."
"...Sounds like some pretty big shit to me. You uh...tell her that? Like...not yelling at her for it?"
"I tried! But she was still tryin' to do it off of my talky one so I got shouty. Probably handled it real bad, but fuck Bug, she was hurtin' me. Not to sound like a bitch, but she was hittin' spots I don't like hit," Rena says, scratching harder. "Fuck, any chance you'll let me go get that guy high?"
"...How bad's the withdrawal gonna be, 'f I don't let you? You gonna frenzy? I'd...I mean I'd offer myself but like...not gonna get high 'fore I do so 's not really helpful."
"I ain't gonna Frenzy. I'm just gonna keep detoxin'. I wanna lie and tell you it'll kill me but it won't. It won't kill me gettin' high neither though. It ain't gonna hurt me at all, matter of fact," Rena says, trying really hard to seem composed and not desperate.
"Detoxing's better. Right?" Calamity seems...a little unsure. More than they would have before. "I...'s not gonna hurt you, but 'f you're losin' time already...'s bad. For like...I dunno, the rest of your life. Scares me, that you're using again. Even if it's better than it could be." The last bits are tentative, a confession. They don't talk about their feelings to Rena, much.
Rena makes a noise with her tongue and teeth. "Bug, I'm going to fucking hate myself in an hour but I don't want to worry you. Take the bag from me. It's my stash. You can give it back to the guys to resell or somethin'." She holds the bag about as far away from her as she can, her noodley arms stretching all the way to the other side of Calamity. She's trembling, like every part of her wants her to not do this dumb thing. But when has Rena ever not done dumb stunts?
Calamity snatches it away with a little force, and shoves it in their pocket with a small sigh of relief. "You want me to stay with you while you ride it out? Be like old times...." Their smile is a little bitter.
Rena shakes her head. "Nah, nah. It's good. I'm not going to puke or anythin', I don't think. Just gonna feel like shit and have everything hurt for a bit. I don't really have much biology any more." She waves her hand around like she's describing a slightly tricky crossword instead of kicking a thing she's been addicted to for a long time.
"...Oh. Mkay." Calamity dips their head a little, and lights another cigarette to cover however they feel about what Rena's said. "Sorry."
"You better be sorry. How fucking dare you care about me?" Rena sticks her tongue out at them before breaking into a giggle fit. "Seriously. You're doing the right thing. In an hour I might call you to beg for the shit back and threaten to kill you if you don't hand it over, but now? It's the right thing." It, sadly, would not be the first time a detoxing Rena threatened to murder Calamity. But probably the first time not hunched over a toilet as she cries her eyes out.
"Be easier to threaten to kill me 'f I'm sittin' next to you..." Calamity actually flashes them a smile. "But if you wanna be alone for it 's fine."
Rena darkens for a second. "I'm worried my instincts would kick in and I'd try somethin'." She lets those words hang in the air before jumping back to regular up-tempo Rena. "Sides, less I have to smell you the better."
|