By the skin of the teeth; by the scruff of the soul.

[glass_beddau]

[Outside the Diabolique, heading to home]
[Late enough to have ruined a relaxing night out]

"Yes. You will." Okay then, and I can feel my heart hitch and lift a little. Okay

Comments

[oscar_merton]

Finally.

The valet is intent on watching me walk to the car, but that is fine. He won't follow, at least not after I told him that my shooting him in the head wouldn't bring the cops here any faster than my driving drunk. Perhaps he is no longer concerned about my safety. I laugh and fumble with the keys. Good. Because neither am I.

I take my bag from the trunk. The cash, a few photos, my pistol. I think of leaving the last behind, in favor of the rest of the pills, but no. It's a quicker way out, if it comes to that. I pocket the bottle of pills instead and stumble my way back to Beddau without falling down, bag over a shoulder.

[glass_beddau]

Don't reach out to him, since I imagine he might take it badly, and the doing an end run around a suicidal drunken teenage ego is already hard enough.

"Come on," I say, heading back to my car. Unlock the trunk first, and open it, looking at the bag he's carrying. Not going to ask what's in it, but the thought of getting stopped is bad enough already, let's at least try to make sure whatever he's carrying can't be casually seen.

[oscar_merton]

I put the bag in the trunk as gracefully as I can manage. I have to grip the side of the car for balance as I walk around, but I don't fall, I manage that much, even if I almost get into the backseat before I realize.

"You know that I just learn to drive, coming here?" I say when I'm in the passenger's seat. "Isn't that-- It's funny, isn't it?" I put on my seat belt, though I don't know why I should bother.

[glass_beddau]

"You know that I just learn to drive, coming here?" he says. "Isn't that-- It's funny, isn't it?"

"I didn't know," I say mildly. Don't need to argue with him about the seatbelt, good. Put my own on, set the purse between us so Dorian can hear, and start the car. "Is it difficult, getting the paperwork to drive in the States?" I mean, I can't say I'm hugely interested, but I'd like to keep him alert enough to talk.

Pull out of the parking lot and start home. "Do you want the window open?"

[oscar_merton]

I'm against the wall again and it's not okay, it's not says the panic, until I can see her through the tears and slowly, painfully, realize what happened.

I can't clean my face, I can barely move, but I can take a deep breath and look at her when she says my name. "Need a kapesník my face I can't--" I remember why I'm here, through the panic, and I won't do it with tears running down my cheeks. I try again. "A cloth. For my face."

[glass_beddau]

Oscar says something and for a minute I can't make it out, not even sure it's English, and then pick my face out of the rush, sit back a bit.

"A cloth. For my face."

"Yeah, hang on." Get to my feet and wet a washcloth, crouch back down and shrug an apology at even needing to ask, but... "It'll go faster," I say quietly, "if you let me." Asking for permission, even a bit, maybe matters. I don't know. I don't know what I'm doing.

[oscar_merton]

I am vaguely aware of another tear running down my face. I raise my chin and look at her. It's all I have, the try at dignity. "Yes." Over her shoulder I can see him watching me, a statue in the blur. I close my eyes and I do not cringe when she touches my face. I close my eyes and I can imagine I am somewhere else, that she's someone else, before the screaming and the blood and closed casket. "Chci... Chci jít domu." I'm so tired.

[dorian_excolo]

I shouldn't be here. This seems such a private thing, a man with all the layers ripped back, that moment just before his eyes go to glass and you can see his soul.

Sitting on the edge of the sink I'm close enough to see, move if I need to, but not get in the way. I feel like I'm in the way.

"Chci... Chci jít domu," the boy says through the tears that I won't let myself see. Glass looks at me. "Ne.." I start to step forward, but stop myself. "Nemáte doma." It's not my decision either and I won't make it. If he asks, though...

I shake my head. "No one goes home."