This...may not end well. (Olesya)

[David B.]

David landed on a cool breeze, readjusting his tshirt as he took a deep breath outside his old door. Beyond, Olesya was, he was sure. In his left hand, he held a bottle of Crown Royal, the only alcohol he was able to find on short notice. It had been a long, long time since he, youichi and August had gotten drunk together, and in truth it didn't end as well as it should have. So, he was here to repeat the process. Not just that, but she had said she wanted to be friends with him and he...wanted to spend time with her. Just as much as he wanted to spend time with Kiyr.

He reached up with his right hand and knocked, waiting patiently.

Once the door opened, he would hold up the bottle and grin, shaking it a little from side to side.

"I'm lonely tonight. Lets drink."

He was trying to be friendly without saying anything wrong, hoping maybe he could ask for Youichi and August to come over and hang out with them. Play some games, talk, visit....just like old times.

[Your Mom~]

Maddie was out at a sleep over tonight, and thus Youichi was off the hook as well, spending more time with her new fiance August. Les had to admit, she was slightly jealous of the pair, having found someone do devoted to the other, and only the other.

Was it really too much to ask for?

Les sighed, pushing her paperwork away from her desk. Here she was with a night off and she was doing work. And thinking about him. At least she comfy in a tank top and sweat pants. She shook her head before tilting it left and right to crack her neck. Enough work. Enough him. Les had made a promise to herself that she would stop focusing on what she didn't have, and focus on what she did have. She didn't have Elder status, she didn't have a Dragon name, and she didn't have David in her bed every night. What she did have was her health, security, and the light of her life, Madelyn Grace Van deBogart. She didn't need anything else.

She pushed away from her desk, standing up and stretching before pausing mid-stretch and frowning. Les hadn't had a me-night in a very very long time. What could she even do? Chores and work were automatically off the list. Maybe go for a run? See if she could find Eury or Delilah to grab a drink? Walk in on August and Youichi?

What was she supposed to do with her time?

Knock, knock, knock.

Olesya crossed to the door, opening up, her eyes widened surprise. Shed tried very hard not to immediately over think his appearance on her doorstep, the alcohol, or the words.

Afterall, she was lonely too, wasn't she?

"Yeah, come in."

She gestured opened the door wider and waved him in.


You are not the light of my life.
Making you happy isn't my greatest dream.
Your smile is not all I live for.
I've got my own stuff going on.
But you're strange and fascinating
and I've never met anyone like you.
I want to give you everything
just to see what you would do with it.

[David B.]

David grinned widely and stepped over the threshold. He lowered the alcohol, looking around at the cozy place that he had, technicaly, given Les not too long ago. He didnt bother to mention Maddie- he knew the girl wasn't here. He kept tabs on her at all times, with a secret protective detail.

Les had one too, but he wasn't about to tell her.

"No kissing, cuddly couple to smoosh their happiness in our faces? Disappointing."

Ah, sarcasm.

He would step into the kitchen and set the bottle on the counter.

"I was thinking- we dated for a long time. We've been friends for years but...we really never talk about our past. So, I figured tonight we could get a little drunk, talk and just...reminisce. What do you think?"

He wanted to really...know Les. Who she had been and might be. After all, he'd been stringing her and Kiyr along for a while, and though he wasn't ready for anything now...the time for action could come upon him at a moments notice and he wanted to really...grasp who he wanted. Firmly. With his penis.

[Your Mom~]

Les laughed at his sarcasm, shaking her head. So he'd been affected by their nauseating happily-ever-after as well? It was a reassuring thought that she wasn't the only jaded person in this territory.

"No, I've locked them away until they can stand five minutes without sucking off the other's face."

She joked, leading him into what was his living room. Not much has changed, except Les had framed some drawing Maddie had made (as neither of them had any pictures left), and hung them up. She sat down on the couch, bending her knee and turning sideways so she could face him. Drink and reminisce? Sounded safe enough.

"Oh! Let me get glasses."

She hopped up from her seat leaving to retrieve two glasses from the cupboard in the kitchen. She returned shortly after, setting them on the table and returning to her seat.

"Well, I already promised I'd be completely honest with you, and I have nothing to hide...anymore, so I'm an open book."

She made an open, welcome gesture with her arms before setting them back down in her lap. Her madness was something she wasn't proud of, but Doctor Twist had said that in order for her to overcome her past, she couldn't hide it away. If she tried to hide it, it would find ways to come back and haunt her...like the hallucinations.

[David B.]

Theme

David followed after her as she held the glasses, bringing his drink with him and sitting next to her. He took a deep breath, pouring them each a little over two fingers worth of alcohol into each glass. He would take his cup and lean back, having set the bottle on the table without much ado.

"Well, how about this. You ask me something first. Anything you want to know about me."

He knew she must have questions...he had several of his own, after all.

[Your Mom~]

"Alright, seems fair enough."

She took the glass offered to him, resisting the urge of just downing it for a kick start, taking a sip of the alcohol. It burned but finished smoothly, similar to some of the moonshine some of the residents whip up every now and again. She knew that Jacques in the east end had plans to start his own distillery.

"What is your middle name?"

[David B.]

He laughed.

"Fair start. And you better keep it close- I don't actually think anyone knows my middle name besides family. Not that its embarrassing- Michael is pretty artless but...it fills its role."

Little did she know, he used it elsewhere. He would take a larger drink, downing almost off of his cup and wincing at it. David was not a heavy or even occasional drinker- usually, when the fancy struck, it was wine he favored. Had a bit more class- but this drinking served a better purpose. He wanted to relax and ease into topics, not spend a while sipping a pinot over salmon. At least, not with her. She had spent too much time with him and he knew she would likely prefer this route.

"Well, Since I know your middle name is Van I can skip that one..."

A grin- flicking her shit, as always.

"Tell me. When was the moment you decided you wanted to have something more with me? Was it gradual or was there one defining moment?"

He wanted to broach these topics early, so they didnt hang over their head, an unspoken elephant in the corner, waiting to slap them to sobriety.

[Your Mom~]

Seeing that he was taking the 'kick start' route, she grinned and downed her serving like a shot. It burned but warmed her to the core. Ahh...

"It's NOT! Ohmigod...have you ever heard of a surname with a space in it?"

She exclaimed, setting her cup on the table energetically.

"For your information, my middle name is Claire."

She reached to pour herself another shot of the strong stuff when David asked his question. She looked up at him sharply, almost splashing the alcohol on the table. She cleared her throat, setting the bottle down and sitting back up in her seat.

"Well, that escalated quickly..."

She paused, chewing his question over for a minute before speaking, swirling the liquid around in her glass.

"It kind of snuck up on me. I didn't even know I was in love until it was too late. Heh. I mean, my rehabilitation was hard. I had to learn how to feel again, it's like losing one of your senses...emotion."

She frowned slightly, looking up at him and catching his blue eyes with her kaleidoscope hues.

"I guess you could say it was gradual then. At first I didn't understand what emotion I was feeling, only that I wanted to spend more time with you, and when I didn't see you, my chest felt tight and things looked a little less colorful and brilliant. You were the cataclysmic piece that shattered my dark world, unseated the monster within me that had taken over due to Barker's drugs. If I hadn't run into you on the rooftop, I don't know if I would have ever remembered who I was."

She took another large sip of the alcohol, feeling it warm her insides and strengthen her resolve.

"Really, I owe it to you and Maddie. You've helped heal me in your own ways. It might make me look weak, but I don't think I could have done it without you. So really, it wasn't just a defining moment, but more the fact that it's always come back to you."

She was silent for a moment, attempting to read his gaze as he sat next to her, resting the cup on her bent knee.

[David B.]

He didnt look away, giving a small smile as she turned up the heat. He rolled his eyes sarcastically, as though to say "Whaaatever" about her middle name. Making it like a joke though he knew it was like petting a cat backward. Still, he liked to see her feathers ruffled, and drank a little more as she downed hers easily. He felt like a wimp but...such was his abilities in the booze department. He brought his eyebrows up when she said it escalated quickly, keeping the small smile on her face so she could continue.

He let his face relax, nodding here and there as she went into detail. He would take pity on her, wanting to avoid the awkwardness and instead jumping on another topic.

"Tell me about the rooftop. Ophelia. Tell me how she started."

To better understand.

[Your Mom~]

So much for the back and forth questions. That's okay, she'd have her turn. And now, she was able to sit down and talk to him about everything that had happened to her. Sure, he knew the bits and pieces, the big picture. But he didn't know how it started.

"It first started after the earthquake at 259, when we were all shipped over to to surrounding schools for a while. I went to PHS 42, and I started losing contact with everyone somehow. You, Mitsuki, Stu, Emily, Jon...er, "Unfettered." Even Mathew disappeared after our first date. So, all that lonliness and the latent effects of the chemicals...I just kind of lost it."

Another sip of her drink. This part was painful to remember, but like Dr. Twist had said, she needed to embrace her past if she wanted to move on. He'd used hypnotic techniques to help resurface some of the lost memories, of both Ophelia and Olesya.

"It's not like I have another person living inside of me. I guess the best way to put it, it was a bit of a fugue. A fugue is defined as a pathological amnesiatic state, usually brought on by extreme stress. At first I was more irritable, more reckless, as if something was bothering me...but it just go so much worse. And one day, I guess I woke up and completely forgot who I was, all of the raw uninhibited emotion and...just, corruption overwhelming my sense of self. I didn't even remember my name. So that's how Ophelia was brought about."

She took a deep breath, allowing it to calm her nerves. The alcohol was doing a good job of loosening up her joints, and she took another sip, mostly just for something to do.

"So I left California, somehow wound up on the East Coast eventually. I didn't really have a goal or purpose, I just felt like a storm spinning out of control. I was like this for at least a year or two before returning to Long Beach...and running into you on that roof top. Hearing my name...my real name, sparked the surpressed part of me, awakened the real me that had taken cover from all the madness. It was like a floodgate, flushing everything back into my conscious, so I was living with two realities. Who I used to be, and who I had become."

She felt her eyes sting, but she blinked rapidly to push it away. There was no point in stopping now, she was already in the story, might as well finish it.
"I completely lost it. Tortured by my own existence, because the old me would have rather died than become the monster I had been, and the monster in me fought back, fueled by the chemicals and hurt and rage. I started self medicating to shut them both up, and became No One."

Her voice broke, and she cleared her throat, taking another deep breath. She paused a moment to regain her composure before continuing.

"I was finally picked up half-dead on a stoop. They incarcerated me, identified me, and sent me to the Agnews Asylum in Santa Clara. The notified my family. The came to see me...once. I think I scared them. Jon found me, too. He came to visit...he had teal hair and was in a wheelchair to the best of my knowledge. I got detoxed and picke dup by Dr Twist, an old employee of Barker's, and taken to his Halfway House. His unorthodox treatments neutralized the chemicals, and with lots of therapy....here I am."

She lifted her arms, opening her free palm upward in a 'here I am' gesture at him. He knew the rest of the story.

[David B.]

David would begin to feel, as he finished his drink, a little tingle on his lips as his head started to feel the tell-tale fog of pleasure from his alcohol. He poured another, listening as she started in, and nodding at the appropriate times. He would start taking off his shoes, floating them over to the place they usually were- not looking at them drift across the room and settle comfortable by the door. He wanted to make sure that Les knew he was comfortable and not just pretending to want to be there. He hoped that if she saw him get comfortable, she would feel comfortable as well.

He drank in the information, listening as she told him the intimate details of her path to self destruction. He watched as the changes came over her, saddened by what she was telling and showing him. The humanity that she was letting out was good. He wanted to see her be real, not just the front she presented to everyone on a daily basis to appear strong. He take a deep breath.

"I see. I'm glad you found him...especially if it meant you felt some semblance of normality again. As for my or Maddies being there making you look weak...it doesn't. Long term dependency does...but counting on someone to see you through a troubling time is what friends and family and loved ones are for. Those who stick with you through the worst are the ones you want to be around until death, y'know?"

He took another drink, giving her the opportunity to ask something, if she wanted to take it. He didn't see this as a back and forth session- he just wanted to have a conversation, and if one person wanted to ask several in a row, he was good with it. Whatever sated this desire inside him to know his friends and truly trust them.

[Your Mom~]

"You and Maddie are my family, now. The Dragons too, though obviously they don't know me as intimately, to them I'm a signal of strength, not a woman with feelings."

She shrugged, as he obviously knew it too. In fact, he knew it even more than she, having been a leader even back in high school. It was a bit refreshing though, to just sit and talk and be human.

"What about you? When did you know you wanted more?..And what changed?"

[David B.]

David nodded, fully understanding what she meant. As she asked her question, he thought for a moment before shifting a sitting on his leg, thinking a moment.

"Mm, I was getting the feelings pretty heavy when you returned after leaving Maddie with us, and I showed you the house and stuff. It kicked in gradually after that, but that was definitely a strong catalyst. As for what changed...I guess you caused me to change. When we talked, and you got upset...I thought that, perhaps, you were saying you wanted to break up. I thought long and hard about why that would be. I wondered if it was me, if I was some bastard for feeling the way I did...do..."

He took a deep breath- He wasn't sad or angry talking about this. He had come to terms with it. Now he just needed to sort everything out and stick with his decision. He took another drink.

"And from there, I thought about you. About the growth I need and you needed. About the...danger of having you and Maddie be with me. Its all...very confusing and makes very little sense when trying to explain it out but...basically I realized I needed to sort shit out. Like im doing now."

Another drink went down as the fuzz got thicker.

"So, you said the other day during our tussle outside the war room that you were down with sex. How come you never...I don't know, made a move? Or should I have made a move and, in which case, allow me to promptly bang by head against the wall several times."

A grin. He was buzzing, hard, and feeling ticklish. Plus, it would be amusing to see if the white haired woman could blush.

[Your Mom~]

Les frowned slightly, recalling that fight. It was in the past though, there wasn't anything they could do to change it, all they could do was move on with their lives.

"I really think...there was some miscommunication there, and I was too hotheaded to see it. I'm sorry."

She admitted sheepishly, no longer angry or upset. She felt a bit embarrassed by her own pride. When he changed the subject to sex, she was immediately reminded of the spar they had outside the war room and the kiss that resulted. Her cheeks burned red from the combination of alcohol and...other feelings. She became suddenly aware of how close they were...was it hot in here? She tossed back the rest of her shot and set the glass on the table. She tried not to think about what she'd want him to bang against the wall.

"I uh...I guess that has a bit to do with being emotionally-challenged. But like I said...I'm, er...relearning them."

Was she breathless?

[David B.]

David showed his pearly whites, grinning from ear to ear as her face flared red. David didn't turn red- he felt on top of the world. Not like he was cocky or unable to have those feelings, he just felt...so much better since Barkers death. He had his confidence back. He would give a little chuckle as she stumbled over some of her words.

"Like you said? I don't think you said you were relearning them. As I remember, you said 'I want it too.' It was epic. You said it right in front of half the Dragon army. Hahaha-"

He refilled, taking a swig and downing half after letting his giggle die.

"Here, I'll change the subject. Did or do you have brothers or sisters?"

Hopefully this wasn't going to be a topic that caused sadness....after all, he was really starting to get in her pants a good mood.