sky_from_sea | (no subject)

(no subject)

Anna has been avoiding the Wasteland of late, even though she has stopped avoiding other people.

Well. She's stopped avoiding Daniel, at least.

But now--well.

She's not going to let Nicky drive her out of this (her) city, so it's time to stop being a shadow.

Which means--talking to Gwen.

Now, if only Anna knew how best to find her. The shelter isn't as small as it used to be, and Anna's never spent that much time there, anyway.

Still, someone's sure to know where the Wasteland owner is.

Right?

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"Yeah," Gwen agrees, nodding.

She casts around for something to ... say? Do?

"Um. Want to sit?"

"I'd like that, yes."

Anna eyes the couch and the beanbag chair, then steps hesitantly toward the couch.

"... Good choice," Gwen says wryly. "The beanbag chair gets a little ... short? I don't know. I always start feeling really gangly and weird."

She shrugs, then makes her own way-- hesitantly-- also towards the couch. About as far from Anna as she can get, though-- she doesn't want to mess with her personal space, especially not now.

Anna's currently sitting there, legs crossed primly, looking at her hands.

"Did you have any specific questions? About--things?"

Gwen frowns.

"Well ... yeah, I guess."

A beat. She huffs out a breath.

Then:

"... Did you want to work for that guy? In Philadelphia?"

"No."

Anna's answer is immediate and over-sharp.

She takes a deep breath.

"I didn't even particularly want to be a vampire."

Beat.

"Not that Nicky took the time to ask me."

Gwen's eyes widen.

(Her reaction is immediate and under the skin, and she stifles that as best she can: Not now not now not now.)

"He didn't--"

She snarls, without meaning to. It was supposed to be, what, a sigh? Something harmless and sympathetic.

"Son of a bitch."

Anna smiles faintly, wariness heavy in her eyes.

"I wouldn't like to speculate on his mother's character."

"Mmph."

Half a hmph, half muffling herself. Gwen growls softly.

"Probably a good bet she wasn't, I guess. Or isn't. Then he'd be less likely to be ... the charming guy he is today."

"Yes. Well."

Anna looks down at her hands again.

"He is very . . . insistent on getting his way."

Gwen frowns, then, sharp and disconcerted.

"I ... get that impression."

Anna laughs, soft and sharp.

"Yes. Well. You have no idea."

Yet.

Gwen's frown only deepens.

She really. Really. Does not like the sound of that.

"Is it-- anything you can talk about?"

Anna shrugs.

"It's all old news."

Her face is set and still as stone. Gwen could see it more clearly if Anna would look up from her hands.

"I was a vegetarian, before."

Gwen can't see her face, but she smells-- it's different, and she never has bothered to sort through all the information her nose gives her in the first place so it gets difficult to tell what's different, but now, whatever it is, it's not making her feel any better about whatever Nick could have done to Anna.

"I ... I feel like you've told me that before," Gwen says, making a face. "I guess, um ..."

She looks to her uncertainly.

Anna does look up, then.

It's--not an entirely pleasant thing to see.

Her expression, that is.

"Do you know how long it takes a vampire to go mad with hunger?"

Gwen swallows, reflexively.

She's waiting to shiver, shudder, get the tension out somehow-- nothing doing.

"I've heard-- a couple days."

"Yes."

Her voice is cool, distant.

"I lasted a little less than a week."

Beat.

"The first time."

She growls.

She doesn't mean to growl-- it's an accident, and it's embarrassing, not least because it comes out sounding so ... defensive. Gwen puts a hand to her mouth.

"I'm sorry--"

But she's sorry for more than that.

Softer, steadier, "I'm sorry-- I didn't have any idea you ..."

Words fail to come. Gwen shakes her head, frustrated.

"Fuck him."

Anna smiles a little wryly.

"Fuck him up, yes. Fuck him? Not in a thousand, thousand years."

And despite how horrible she feels, and how itchy, Gwen still manages to choke.

(That's kind of a relief, actually.)

"Oh, God. Well. Good."

Anna's smile stretches a little wider.

Just a little.

"I feel much the same."

"Yeah." Gwen huffs. "Seriously."

She offers a faint, hesitant smile.

"Um, well. Thank you for ... telling me that."

"Someone needed to hear it."

Anna shrugs, lightly.

She's also looking down at her hands again.

Just for a second.

Gwen looks rueful.

She had felt that she, in particular, needed to hear it-- but that's a calculating consideration, and it's stupid, and anyway Anna doesn't need to be told it.

Tentatively, she stretches a hand out to Anna's shoulder.

It's the only comfort she really feels qualified to give.