(no subject)

[rightchoices]

Who: Tess & Lee
What: People leave and it sucks plus alcohol.
When: After Tess's post.
Where: Lee's apartment.
Rating: PG-13 for language, alcohol use?

It was a bunch of bullshit, but what was there to be done about it? Lee had let himself fall into a false sense of security - but nothing was stable, nothing was certain, and it didn't matter how much he had told himself he'd prepared for it: finding Carley's name gone from her bedroom door had been cut more than he wanted to let himself acknowledge.

It was that and so many other things, just a general growing sense of frustration at the castle itself. He was starting to feel trapped instead of free, cynically starting to wonder why he'd ever thought this place was a blessing at all.

So he waits for Tess's knock and calls out a curt: "It's unlocked."

Comments

[dog_eat_dog]

Tess opens the door after only a slight hesitation; she's still years of therapy away from leaving a door unlocked, she thinks, and it's been strange having to keep up after two teenagers who are a little less reliable than Joel at keeping it locked. Lee is trusting, though, and it both annoys her and unnerves her.

He'll make new friends, probably. She won't.

Still, she opens the door and steps in quietly, closing it and locking it behind her. She's got a bottle of vodka in one hand.

"The kids are settled with a movie," Tess says. Not that she had anything to do with it, either –– the three were capable enough for that. "So we can get completely fuckin' smashed."

[rightchoices]

It feels more and more like most of the castle could just walk through the goddamn door, whether or not he's got it locked. Habit is to keep it deadbolted when Clementine's there, but when it's just him and Tess is on her way, what's the point?

(What's the point with a lot of this, he wants to think, but that's an ugly road. So he shakes it off again, like he always does, just because the letting himself wander down it isn't an option.)

"Aren't we a little old for that?" But it's tight, not quite sarcastic but definitely not serious, and he leans back a little in his chair as he lifts a hand to greet her.

[dog_eat_dog]

"Please, I'm drinking because I'm old enough to say a phrase like 'the kids are settled with a movie'," Tess replies, and she dusts her boots off on the doormat before joining him, dropping into the chair opposite like she owns it. She cranks the top of the bottle to break the seal on the cap.

She's classy, that's for sure.

"Besides, you drink until everything feels good or careless, or you don't drink at all. Drinking responsibly just makes people sad."

[rightchoices]

"There anything that doesn't make people sad in this place these days?" It's a little (a lot) more bitter than he means to sound, especially considering that it doesn't really make a lot of sense. He leans back in his seat to watch her open the bottle, eyes quietly approving.

"Some people here whine about the pettiest shit. All I mean by that."

im a loser sorry

[dog_eat_dog]

"No, I won't argue," she replies. That bitterness resonates with her, slips under her skin real easy. She wishes up a couple of tumblers and fills them generously, passing one to Lee across the gulf between their seats. "Jesus christ, these people have never gone four hours without a meal, without a drink. These people have nothing to really complain about. It pisses me off."