revivalproject | (Network) awake from blood-thick dreams

No, but I'm not a stranger to drinks. I just never drank to excess. I had to keep my senses sharp. When you're a spy, you never know who's waiting to kill you.

Well, lucky for you, this is the time to start! Think about it: we have omnipresent, gooey, pink overlords who make sure we can't hurt each other. No one's coming to kill you now.

If you need tips, I am a pro and ready to train ya.

You make a good point. Where and when would you like to do this ... training?

[obviously this is before Eddie corners him]

You available now? I am looking for someone to use as a cover while I avoid someone else.

[RP magic means this thread happens before Lark's up above, shh shh no questions just rule of fun]

Sure. I'm used to covering people. Not like this, I admit, but it shouldn't be too different. That just leaves the matter of finding this Deep End place you mentioned.

[THE MAGIC OF PLOT DEVICE!!!]

It's on your map, my friend. But I can lead you there, if you prefer?

No, that's alright. I see it, now. I'll be the woman in black, with the dark hair. You?

Black glasses. Somehow both balding and having too much hair at the same time. You'll know me when you see me.

She does, indeed, know him when she sees him. He's kind of attractive, but that's not why she's here. She gives him a little wave and a smile.

"In black" was a bit of a misleading statement, since she's wearing a cropped leather jacket on top, but only what looks like pleather bikini bottoms and knee-high black boots on the bottom. Make of that what you will, Trashmouth Tozier.

"I'm Aeon. Thanks for inviting me."

Richie never learned where to look in moments like this. Pretending to be straight always meant that he would try to look at the bared skin on the woman. But then there was the whole thing about not being a creep, especially when just meeting someone. But ignoring it entirely? Wouldn't that be as bad as looking?

Richie just sort of stares at Aeon's shoulder as she walks up and blinks a lot. Good enough.

"No...Yeah. No problem." He clears his throat and slides over a drink. "Richie Tozier. Earthling. Boring Earth. Weird clown but otherwise just pretty boring. Yep."

That was interesting, Aeon thought to herself. His lack of ogling meant he was clearly interested in someone or something else - she never judged in that regard - but he was also uncomfortable at the same time. Until she'd come to Temba, she'd never seen so many people squirm at the sight of a little bare flesh.

"We can sit at a table if that's easier," she said knowingly, accepting the drink. "What is a clown?"

He nodded and followed her to the table before sitting at it and starting to nurse at the drink.

"A clown? Uh. In the best of situations it's a funny thing. Person who puts on all sorts of silly make up to look kind of like a puppet with a red nose and wears silly clothes while being ridiculous. They're meant to make kid laugh. They also can be kinda uncanny and creepy though. Or come from outerspace and eat kids. You know. Either or."

She slid into the booth across from him, effectively hiding most of her bare skin from his line of sight. As he explained, she took a sip of the drink and found that it burned, but once the sensation faded, the aftertaste was pleasant. Pain and pleasure, one of her favorite combinations. She smiled into her glass, then looked back up at him.

"Sounds complicated. What do you do about the ones that eat children?"

"Generally? I mean there's two options. Kill It or get killed by It. I'm a bigger fan of the former but, you know. Shit happens."

He pasted on a sarcastic grin to hide how close that little joke hits to his real story. Or, maybe not his as such, but definitely one he held close to his heart.

"It's a long story, trust me. And not a fun one. So how about we talk about yours?"

"Mine's not fun in places, either," she warned him, taking another sip of her drink. "I think the Earth I'm from is in the far future from yours, based on what I've heard from other people here. The land is almost completely uninhibitable, except for the city of Bregna, which is walled in."

She reached out with a finger and started to draw a map in the condensation tripping from their glasses and the bottle.

Richie let out a low whistle at all that. "Yeah. The clown sucked but at least I could take a walk someplace else if I wanted to. I dunno what I would do getting stuck in Derry. That sounds like Hell."

He hummed a little, considering.

"So this whole thing here isn't all that different, is it? New environment but still a city you're stuck in. No where else to go..."

"It's not," she agreed, smiling a little. "The biggest difference is that this place doesn't have mounted turrets everywhere that shoot you if you try to leave, or cross into the other half of the city... and from what I've seen so far, the Agrii don't redact or rewrite their own history as it suits them."

"Yikes," Richie decided. "Yeah. Let's pass on the turrets. Damn." He almost was inclined to look around as though to check the Agrii or whoever didn't just get a good idea from this conversation. But that would be silly.

"Musta been hard living in a place like that," he continued. "Dystopian shit like that never usually ends well."

"Some days were hard. Some were boring. Mostly, though, I tried to make it exciting. ... Being a rebel will do that for you. But that's where the problems come in."

She took another sip of her drink. "Turns out most of the things I did for the rebellion had consequences I wasn't aware of. Ripples in a pond."

Richie nodded sagely. He doesn't really have the same experience but he can understand it well enough from the shit with Pennywise. From what happened to Stanley and what could have continued to happen in Derry without them.

"Look, we can only do the best we can at the time, ya know? You can't beat yourself up about it. You did what you thought was right and what the fuck else were you supposed to do? If you went back and had the same information, I bet you'd do it again the same way."

He sipped on his drink more and shrugged.

"Shit sucks. That's why there's alcohol."

"I don't know if I would. Do it the same, I mean. But ... I can't, so there's no point in trying to decide, is there?"

She tilted the glass to and fro in her hand, watching the way the alcohol clung to it for a moment before sliding back down.

"So what you're saying is ... I should just do my best. And if I don't like what my best turns out to be ... drink."

"Bingo! Look at you! Such a fast learner. I knew you'd be a great apprentice to the distinguished art of 'getting fucked up'. Drink to that!"

He clinked their glasses together and toasted Aeon before taking a deep sip of his own.

"We all do our best. And a lot of the time our best is garbage. So, we have alcohol to make us feel better about the fact we didn't do good enough. Or, we have it to toast when we actually did do good enough and we can celebrate. It's a perfect system."

"I'd rather leave out the 'up', but there are ... issues with that right now."

She rolled her eyes and drank deeply again. More now than ever, she wanted that comfort and escape that sex could provide, but Echo was still processing everything. Normally, she wouldn't have cared, would have taken what she wanted since she knew he'd enjoyed himself ... but Beck's gas had made her grow a conscience in more ways than just as a murderer, and she was finding she cared a bit more about what Echo thought than she ever had with someone like Roardi or Onan.

"I didn't drink much at all, back home. Had to keep my senses sharp. I don't think I've ever gotten ... completely drunk."

Richie spit his drink out, surprised at the casual mention of getting fucked. For someone who dished it out, it was almost hilarious that someone could get him with something so minor. Maybe it was the lack of pants. That definitely changed things a little. Maybe.

"Ah. Well, you can feel free, here. Not like I'd force ya to do it. But we look out for each other around here and the Agrii are babysitters it seems like. You can cut loose if you want. To get drunk. Or the other thing. Not with me, of course.

"Not that you aren't beautiful! I mean. You are great. I'm just gay."

She'd never made anyone spit out their drink before, and something about it was just hysterical. Aeon laughed, though she did at least have the manners to hold out a cocktail napkin.

The term Richie'd used gave her pause. 'Gay'? Clearly he was happy enough. It had to be some sort of ancient Earth slang that had fallen out of favor in Bregnica. She frowned a little in thought, trying to remember when she'd seen him before this: ah. The town meeting ... and the young boy she'd been talking with, the fast one, had made him upset about ... oh.

It clicked into place, and she smiled. "There are some very attractive men here. Seems like we're both lucky. And I don't have to worry about sharing the women with you."

(Network) awake from blood-thick dreams

bless you Richie Tozier

:-*

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cw: questionable consent mention

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cw: death and related cloning

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