I won't pretend that I intend to stop living

[mildwildchild]

Who: erryone in Pride
What: recovering from the events of December 7
When: late December 7/early December 8 - ???
Where: Pride HQ and wherever else they're allowed to go
Warnings: Carnies? references to I Will Twist the Knife


So maybe you've just gotten back from the most mellow kidnapping ever and you're itching to tell your bandmates about what went on with the cool helmeted guys while everyone else was at that stuffy party. Unfortunately, you'll have to wait a little while to tell them, but that's okay - surely you can keep yourselves occupied until everyone else returns.

Or maybe you're one of those who wound up at that party of Naomi's, and your night was a little less fun. Now you're back at HQ, possibly with mended physical injuries and almost certainly with a few new psychological scars. Now's your chance to check in on your friends and bandmates who missed out on all the trauma and deal with things as best you can.

Comments

[wounds]

[You know who also ends up in bars far too often and far too late?

Genos.

So whenever they end up in the same bar, he slides next to her and orders his own drink.]

Holding up?

[blindfoldcode]

[Heeey it's someone she knows and that's less good than it ought to be.] I'm... [How does she answer this cleverly enough that she doesn't seem like she's shattering?]

Alive, I guess. You?

[wounds]

Still in one piece.

[It always seems to be his short hand for "I'm alive and nothing's happened."]

[blindfoldcode]

It's late. [She says it like she is not also out.]

[wounds]

Yes.

You're out. [That's not going to discourage him.]

[blindfoldcode]

I needed some space. [And apparently some substances as well.]

[wounds]

[Are you tired of being the mom friend?]

Is it helping?

[blindfoldcode]

[She is still being the mom friend. She's being mom enough to not let her band see her this way.]

I'm waiting for it to kick in.

[wounds]

Hm.

Alcohol's never done anything for me.

[blindfoldcode]

Hasn't for me, either. [That's not a very subtle hint.]

[wounds]

What've you been taking?

[blindfoldcode]

What I could find. [She's. Not a smart person, Genos.]

[wounds]

[He looks vaguely worried, but she's not his bandmember to worry over.]

Take care of yourself.

[blindfoldcode]

I'm working on it. Hoping it'll help me sleep. [Or wear her out enough that she literally just passes out.]

[wounds]

A bar's not the best place to pass out.

[blindfoldcode]

Drag me upstairs if I do, then. [She takes another drink. Someone really ought to tell her this shit isn't gonna mix well.[

[wounds]

Don't know what you took. But mixing alcohol and anything is a recipe for disaster.

[blindfoldcode]

[She looks at him. Looks at the glass. It takes her a minute before she shrugs.]

I'm already running on borrowed time.

[wounds]

You can't keep tabs on your bandmates like that.

[blindfoldcode]

Yeah, well. I'm not so great at it to start with. Two of them got kidnapped and Molly and Tiger nearly got killed while I was bleeding in the garden.

[You can walk away from this, Genos. Kido's a fucking mess on the inside.]

[wounds]

[You know what heroes don't do?

Walk away.]

Nobody could've known how badly that party would go.

[blindfoldcode]

You haven't been here too long. When you get Pride members together like that, it tends to go south.

The gala was a disaster, but at least no one got hurt. Then there was the torture carnival. And now this.

[wounds]

More reason to look out for each other.

[blindfoldcode]

I was useless to them at the carnival. And... hey, I was the only one of us who got hurt at the party, right?

They've got other people looking out for them. They'll be okay. I'll be me again in the morning.

[wounds]

Kido.

They still care about you. It'd still hurt if you weren't there. [An ache in his chest, someone he respects, someone he's missing-] What you do is still important.