Brownies with Jenn

Jenn

[how delicious ARE these brownies?]

Dice: 8 d10 TN6 (1, 2, 2, 3, 3, 5, 6, 8, 10, 10, 10) ( success x 5 ) Re-rolls: 3

Jenn

Jenn had come prepared for this occasion. As was customary for all poor kids, or all people with a lick of common sense, Jenn was bringing her own snacks into the movie theatre on account of this particular theatre not selling the most delicious brownies known to humanity. They were the kind of brownies that made angels weep, conceptualized and carefully creatively plotted and hand made by only the most desperate of artists. Oh, yes, this was going to be a good movie if only because of the chocolate.

She had to get out of the house, and calling Alicia seemed like a good enough idea. Besides, if someone talked to Alicia then maybe ELijah would quit moping around the apartment because he was still moping and a mopey Elijah was the most worthless wingman ever.

Jenn's reasons may have been a little selfish, but she had found herself in the awkward position of being unofficial caregiver to someone with questionable sanity. She knew he hasn't bent akin his meds the past few months, for good or for ill. He had a personality again, but he was… weird. She wasn't sure if him dreaming was a symptom of a problem or a side effect from treatment. Whatever the case, Jenn sometimes just needed a moment to breathe and not have her room mate in her hair.

OMGAlicia i made brownies & saw God.

Later

Want 2 go see Tokyo Gore Police w/me? Its weird but I want 2 make fun of bad subtitles

So. Movies- Alicia. Brownies.

Alicia

Alicia came back from the movies last night and went straight to her motel room. The motel room is not the classiest of places and she's sure some of the other weekly renters are prostitutes or strippers but if her life keeps heading the way it's headed she's going to be in that line of work real fast herself. No judgment. They're nice ladies and even though a cluster of them were outside in the parking lot smoking cigarettes when she got back they don't bother her. They let Alicia go inside and shower and brush her teeth and get in bed. She cried in the shower and was exhausted by the time she got into bed.

Hard to call it 'going home' when she doesn't think of this place as her home but it's as close to home as she's going to get.

She was still in bed with the curtains drawn when her phone pinged with a text. Laughing brought tears to her eyes but it was Jenn not Elijah so she didn't ignore it.

God is dead. Bring on the pot.

Later:

By the time the sun started to set she'd gotten herself out of bed and made the thing and was sitting outside on the breezeway like she used to sit out on the breezeway when she needed to not be cooped up with her dad doing fuck knows what in the bathroom. Wind in her hair and cigarette between her fingers. She's painted her nails green tonight. The accent nails are white. It doesn't mean anything. She just thinks green is a hopeful color.

Her phone went off again. This time when she smiled she didn't do so with damp eyes.

Ofc girl. Want to pregame 1st?

Jenn

Does she want to pre game first?

Jenn had a grin on her face the size of Texas when she replied, something contagious that she picked up from having shared a space with Elijah for so long. Jenn flopped over her bed, taking another bite of brownie and wearing the dreamiest of smiles on her face.

Fuck yeah! Want me 2 pick U up? I would say here but E's asleep

Which is funny, because Jenn hasn't even put shoes on. She looks at her toes- blue sparkles, and at the tattoo of the irises on her thigh and she wonders if she should add to them, if she could add to them if she wanted. Her thoughts meander about the nature of skin and how fucking delicious that brownie is.

Jenn rolled off her bed and meandered over to pull her shorts and shoes on. Life was good, because there were brownies.

Alicia

Her mouth flattens itself into a line when she sees mention of Elijah but she doesn't respond to it. Nothing more than a hitch between the send and the response.

I'll text u the address hang on.

Alicia is at a junkie two-story motel on the edge of center city. Neon and boasting wifi and a pool and air conditioning like every other hotel in the world doesn't have these things but it's clean and well-lit and she is still sitting outside room 7 on the ground floor when Jenn arrives.

It's hot tonight so she's wearing a long loose dress. Her hair is down but then her hair is always down if she isn't anticipating having to run from something. Flip flops instead of proper shoes. She's smoking yet another cigarette as she waits for some sign of Jenn's ride.

Jenn

The civic has seen better days, but when Jenn pops out, it would seem that Jenna Fern (ha, very funny Mom) Laurent has not had to see better days in quite some time. she popped a bag of groceries on her hip and a backpack-style purse slung low to where the bag itself hit her in the butt instead. She looks comfortable. Shorts, tee shirt- Jenn has never been ashamed to show off her art, and my heavens was she well on her way to being the Painted Lady in a carnival. Not that Jenn would have minded in the slightest, but we digress.

She waved a chipper and content wave- the dark-haired lady came prepared, and when she sauntered over she gave Alicia a quick once over, "where'd you get that dress? It's super, super cute."

Now, the contents of said grocery bag were questionable at best, though judging by the rustle it was probably some combination of booze from Jenn's pantry and candy (also from Jenn's pantry, because Jenn buys for the freaking apocalypse. If the world ended tomorrow, she would have enough Raisinettes to last her a good four months)

Alicia

"There's this vintage place downtown that has stuff for mad cheap."

Priorities. After the shower and the sleep and another shower and just lounging around doing nothing it's hard to tell Alicia had a trying day yesterday. Youth is wasted on the young. She gets to her feet and gives Jenn a quick one-armed hug because she's still smoking a cigarette.

This place still has proper metal keys instead of electronic key cards. It's like it forgot what century it lives in. Alicia unlocks the door and holds it open with a foot to usher in Jenn so she can keep smoking outside.

The inside of the room has aging carpet and gaudy pseudo-tropical prints on the duvet and the curtains. They match. The air smells vaguely of Alicia's body spray and whatever soap she used in the shower earlier. Ghosts of particles from those who have stayed here before. Cheap art on the walls and the television isn't on.

No refrigerator in here but Alicia has a cooler set near the TV stand.

"What do you want to drink?"

Jenn

The hug is quick, and both young ladies are adept at hugging in such a fashion that no one gets burned by a cigarette or pulls back missing a chunk of hair because they got a ring or something stuck whilst hugging. Which happens, and Jenn can attest that losing a clump of hair to bad hugs is just a waste. A shame. A travesty, really. Jenn smells like brownies and rosemary and vaguely like pot. Basically, Jenn smells like Jenn always smells.

She hurries in, because this place boasts air conditioning and for that she is immensely grateful. The bag immediately goes down on a table and Jenn punctuates it with a sigh. When you're small, things like groceries are a significant portion of your body weight.

"I've got vanilla vodka, Sailor Jerry's, a little bit of ever clear, aaaaaaand red bull-" because it gives you wings "-you got a Dr. Pepper? Vanilla Dr. Pepper sounds so freaking good right now."

Alicia

"I've got..."

The cigarette meets its ashy end on the sidewalk just before Alicia ducks back inside and shuts the door. It locks automatically but she engages the deadbolt anyway. Flips the security bar into place too. To the cooler she goes. Opens the lid and rummages through the ice.

"Regular Coke. That okay? Vanilla Coke is just as delicious."

It either is or it isn't. She comes up with two cans of the stuff and flips the lid closed and goes to the sink to pick up a glass. Glances around the room a few times to find the second water tumbler. Goes back to the cooler to put ice in the glasses and then sits on the bed near but not immediately by Jenn. Only one queen-sized bed. Two twins are awkward and more expensive.

Maybe they banter more as this goes on. Not until they're settled and mixing their drinks does she ask:

"So... did Elijah say anything when he got home last night?"

Jenn

They banter, and regular coke does appear to be fine. Alicia was right, vanilla coke really was just as delicious as vanilla Dr. Pepper. Jenn wasn't choosy, she was really just pleased to be drinking something that was a brand most people recognized. Generic vanilla cola, despite what anyone tells you, does not compare even if you are drinking booze with it.

Did Elijah say anything when he got home?

"He was in the shower for, like, two hours," Jenn said with a shrug, "when I asked what was up he said some kid tried to blow himself up. When I asked why Elijah was kind of sketchy about it."

Jenn took a long drink of her cocktail, "something about puppets and strings, Elijah's weird when he's not on his meds sometimes."

"Did he talk to you? I told him to talk to you and he was a total puss about it."

Alicia

I told him to talk to you and he was a total puss about it.

"I was there." Well shit. That's a game changer. "With our other friend Maxine. At the Skyline Park, downtown? Last night? He was right, a kid our age was hiding a bomb under a trench coat and was going to blow himself up. I don't..."

A small frown. A thought. Jenn is cool but she doesn't know if Jenn is in the know. She talks about Elijah like he needs to be on his meds. Maybe she doesn't know. Alicia's mother doesn't know either. Alicia's mother can't know.

Alicia takes a quick swig of her drink.

"I don't know what he's talking about."

Jenn

"Oh holy shit, is everyone okay?" she asked with no small amount of surprise written across her pretty features. Dark eyebrows snap upward, hand goes to her lips, and her expression seems almost wounded. Saddened.

Jenn is a fragile creature in that regard. She doesn't watch the news, doesn't listen to the radio. She's… she is what she is. "Did they get the bomb off of that guy? I remember being there, I told Elijah to go talk to you and then the cops were telling people to leave and I couldn't figure out why."

Alicia

"It turned into a shit show real fast, Jenn. It was..."

Scary. She was scared and crying and she felt bad for the boy without knowing why. Felt bad that he thought he needed to do that and then went ahead and did it. Felt bad that she couldn't do anything more for him than grab at him so that he lashed out at her instead of detonating the bomb.

"... awful, but there were cops everywhere, you know. They heard people yelling and came over and took him away. Nobody got hurt." She fixes her gaze on Jenn then. She saw the wounded sadness and can't not feel responsible somehow. "Elijah is an idiot."

Jenn

"It sounds awful," she replies, tuned in at that juncture and taking it all in. Her friend was talking about a terrible situation and Jenn, who was a strangely soft hearted creature in a world that has no business with the likes of artists, couldn't hep herself. She looked directly at Alicia, right up until.

Elijah is an idiot.

Which was when he palm met her face and she closed her eyes, "oh good lord, what did he do this time?"

Alicia

They may not make it to the film at the rate they're pregaming.

"He tried to like, bear-hug the guy until the cops showed up. Like... what the fuck, he's got a bomb strapped to his chest and you get closer to him? It was so stupid."

Like Alicia wasn't doing the exact same thing except for twelve inches shorter.

Jenn

"What the fuck was he thinking?! Elijah almost failed gym class on account of being really shitty at sports! That is not going to work!"

No, no they may not make it to the movie at this rate, but Jenn takes another drink of her beverage and continues on, "please tell me that, at the very least, he apologized for being a jackass a few days ago?"

Alicia

Alicia opens her mouth to respond and the fact that what's about to come out of her mouth is the opposite of what Jenn wants to hear has her stammering in silence for a few seconds.

"He..." Sigh. "We didn't get a chance to talk. I don't want to talk to him anyway. I don't think he's sorry."

Jenn

"Do I need to break his kneecaps?"

Alicia

That makes Alicia laugh. It's a sad laugh but appreciative. She can tell Jenn is trying.

"No..." Damn but these grownup vanilla Cokes go down smooth. "Like... if you don't want to hear any more, just tell me. I don't wanna put you in an awkward position. That's so middle school."

Jenn

"Pfffft, girl I could tell you stories, and besides, he's been a mopey McMoperton since whatever happened. Trust me, it could be so soooo much more awkward than it is because right now? Totes not awkward."

Okay, maybe a little awkward, but she didn't seem to really mind the awkward, "you're, like, one of the few mutual friends we have since we moved here. The people he hangs with now are either old or awkward."

Alicia

That makes her laugh again.

"I believe that." Good thing she grabbed two cans of Coke. Alicia cracks open the second one and holds out her glass for the vodka. "I don't know why he's moping, he's the one who..."

That's juvenile. She's nineteen years old. Deep breath let it out try that one again.

"So, okay, my father... did something he wasn't supposed to do. I guess he did it a lot. But the... I guess they're like the FBI or something, but they're not actually the FBI? They'd been keeping an eye on him for a while. They brought my mom in for questioning like five or six years ago and after they released her my dad pulled me out of school and my parents separated and she... like she's with the CDC so she took this promotion that had her going overseas for two years at a time and he homeschooled me. And then maybe a year or so ago he like... had some kind of a breakdown, just got really paranoid out of nowhere and decided we had to leave town. So we'd go from one place to another, like wherever he could find people he knew, and we'd stay there until someone blew him in or he figured out that the Feds were after him or he just had some crazy paranoid 'vision' or whatever that something was going to happen and then we'd split."

Prologue over.

"Right before I came to Denver, like the beginning of May, he got into this shoot-out with them. I ran off because that's what he told me to do, but they... they shot him, and I saw them put him in a van and drive off, and I'm pretty sure he's dead. If he's not dead, he's not getting back out again. But I don't know where they took him or if he's dead or not dead or what they're doing to him, and Elijah knows this, and last week I was pissed off about him not answering his phone because I didn't know what had happened, and I guess I blurted something out that made him think I was... whatever, but he was like Oh well Alicia we can just go find your dad and I'm like No we can't and he was being a dick about it so I hung up on him."

Jenn

Jenn pours heavy. It's one of the better things about her, because when she pours drinks, it is probably more booze than really necessary but Jenn Laurent knows what is necessary and she knows that it is certainly more than a shot or two. Jenn rummaged through a bag and retrieved one of her brownies, offering it to Alicia while happily chomping down on one of her own.

"Dude, no judgment here- my biodad's in prison," she assured Alicia, as though this would be somehow helpful, but she has no idea. Her mind goes to logical places, that Alicia's dad was breaking the law and not that he was breaking the laws of reality. "What's his name?" she asked casually, like this was a normal question because it was a normal question.

Alicia goes on, and Jenn's features pale. She almost chokes on a bit of brownie.

It is, at this juncture, that Jenn realizes that most of the men in Alicia's life are probably crazy, or a little paranoid. Given that this makes her think of Elijah, Jenn found herself contemplating fuses and strings and the number of other things he'd said after he got out of the shower (and immediately went to bed. It had to be bad if Elijah would rather be asleep.)

"Holy shit, that's… that's like some Black Ops stuff, what-what is…" he scoffed, "dude, what the fuck is Elijah thinking, you can't go poke around in the government's freaking business, what the Hell, this isn't the fucking movies."

Alicia

What's his name?

"Khaled," she says. Pronounces it not as an American would pronounce it but like a speaker of Arabic would pronounce it. The 'kh' coming from the throat and not behind the teeth. The 'led' drawn out like water and not firm like rock. "Khaled Abandonato."

So she goes on. Jenn almost chokes on her brownie. That's some Black Ops stuff. Alicia smiles a sad smile and takes another swallow of her drink.

"I don't know what he's thinking," she says. Sounds sad now instead of just looking it. "I don't think he is thinking."

Jenn

"No," she says it like she's pushing on a bruise and knows that familiar, unpleasant ache. Jenn sighed, "no, I don't think he is, either... which is kind of what he fucking does- god damnit... you want me to try to talk him out of this? I mean... that's heavy."

Alicia

"Someone has to."

Alicia is sitting cross-legged on the bed and holding the arm not responsible for the drink around her hips. This is unpleasant but she trusts Jenn. Has no reason to trust Jenn but the first step to making a true friend is to lay your heavy shit on them and see if their back doesn't bend beneath the weight.

"Finding out what happened and... getting him back? That's a fairytale. You know? I'm not going to be able to do anything if all I can do is fixate on what happened and go Oh well maybe I can--" Sigh. Sip. Sniff. "He told me to run. I don't care what all he did. He... he was protecting me, at the end. Because I think they would have brought me in too if I hadn't run. Sometimes I think that would've been better than this, but... it would definitely be better than knowing Elijah was going to get himself in trouble, or... on some watch list himself, or..."

Sniff. Swipe.

"I'm sorry. What time's the movie start?"

Jenn

"So, it's like... you want to be able to try and move on but it's all really heavy... and it's kind of like Elijah said hey, let's drag this shit out again and... and it's just gonna make things worse, right?" she asks for confirmation. Jenn is keyed in, attentive. She is there because she needs to be there, because she wants to be there, and she doesn't flinch away from her friend who is very clearly hurting.

There is a compassion, there. A mutual misery if only because Jenn is a creature whose heart bleeds too easily. She might not understand, she might not be able to really understand the full scope of what is going on or the truth of the matter, but Jenn? Jenn wanted to be there.

What time does the movie start?

"I think we'll miss the previews, but we can make the rest. I've already seen Tokyo Gore Police, it's just good for a laugh."

Alicia

"I think I could use a laugh about now."

Because dwelling just makes the pain worse and Alicia doesn't want to admit that she's in pain at all let alone stay in it. That's why she cries so much. Because she doesn't want to admit that she's in pain and she is anyway. Pain doesn't work that way. Especially not when you're lying to everyone trying to help you.

"Let's call a cab. I wanna try one of your God brownies."

Alicia

[AND WE'RE PAUSING BAHA I HAVE A TOREADOR TO SUBMIT]

Alicia

[Pausing? Wrapping. Whatever.]