Drink the Night Away [ Open ]

[Na'Mira Williams]

It was not a good day.

Her powers were stronger than ever before. Every little movement, every little touch, caused her to get a vision or a whiff or a memory of something she had never seen before. Try as she might, Na'Mira was unable to control her abilities when they got this bad; years of oppressing them had only allowed her abilities to grow in strength, until finally Na'Mira could no longer hide them. They had taken over her mind, and, today, her eyesight was suffering for it.

Perhaps that was why she had decided to go out. Not because she enjoyed feeling helpless; in fact, that was one of the worst feelings in the world. No, Na'Mira needed a distraction. She needed to get out and away from her apartment. Those four walls felt smaller and smaller every time her eyes decided to fail. They felt as though they were suffocating her, while at the same time trying to overwhelm her with every little moment they had ever witnessed. Mira needed something to distract her mind and keep her sane. 

That was why she was at the bar. She was in long sleeves, long pants -- everything was long, really. She had to be covered, to keep herself from accidentally bumping into a table or the bar or another person and then suddenly being assaulted by memories she never wanted. That was why, when the bartender finally brought her the drink she had ordered, she took the glass with gloved fingers. It was just easier this way, to protect her mind and her sanity. She would remove the gloves eventually, when she had to pay, but for now, it was best to keep them on.

As she sipped, Na'Mira just listened. She could hear the quiet rumble of the crowd around her, of six or seven or ten conversations all going on at the same time. And, while she could not make individual words out, the buzz was a nice distraction from her abilities. Hell, it was a nice distraction from her own mind. 

A sigh escaped her, and she brought the drink to her lips once more.

"Here's to tonight."

W O R D S * 368 ;;
T H O U G H T S * Mira hates the world but loves alcohol. ;;
M U S I C * Say Anything ;;
T A G G E D * [Open!] ;;
W E A R I N G * [ Click! ] ;;
C R E D I T S * say anything's hate everyone ;;

template by RoyaLe of Caution 2.0

[Bailey]

It had been a particularly rough couple of weeks for Bailey, and so they were indulging tonight in something that would help take the edge off. They didn't have an absolute ton of money left, but if they didn't get out and do something, they were going to flip. So, they'd made their way to The District Lounge, and here they were now. If their sister could see them now, sitting on a barstool contemplating a rum and coke, she'd probably be very disappointed. Then again, maybe if she hadn't died, they wouldn't be homeless. But that would've been her business, not Bailey's.

Usually, when Bailey frequented bars, they wore their male face so that they were less likely to be confronted. Today was no exception. They weren't feeling very womanly, sure, but it was more about avoiding random passes from strangers that happened way more as a woman than they did as a man. This drove Bailey up the wall, naturally, as it was a hell of a lot harder for them to express their identity and feel safe, but there wasn't much that could be done about it.

"Here's to tonight." The woman next to Bailey--or, as next as Bailey was to anyone--had spoken, and was taking another swig of her drink. She sounded a bit sarcastic. Chances were she wasn't exactly having the time of her life, either. Bailey lifted their glass as well.

"Seconded," Bailey added, in a similarly dry tone. "You sound like you're having the night of your life. If you care to share, I've been told I'm a pretty good listener." Shrugging, Bailey tossed back some of their drink. "If not, just tell me to buzz off and I can do that just fine, too." They didn't want to be obnoxious or get up in her space, but if they could help, that'd be nice.

word count [[ 312 ]]
notes [[ none ]]
tagged [[ Na'Mira Williams ]]
mood [[ half expecting the woman to go "lol no" ]]
credits [[ save yourself, i'll hold them back by my chemical romance ]]

[Na'Mira Williams]

To her utmost surprise, someone actually approached her. 

At first, Na'Mira was on edge, ready to spat out poison and scare the bastard away. Tonight wasn't the night; tonight wasn't a sexual night. She had no desire to grab someone, throw them in the bed, and ravage until her need for company was satisfied. Na'Mira Williams was not a weak woman; she hated weakness. And because of her hatred for weakness, she never wanted anyone to get close to her or to have her in a compromising position while her eyes were the way they were. 

For someone to have her when she was blind was... was too risky. Someone might she wasn't as steel and thorns as she claimed to be. Someone might just see the porcelain beneath the rust and try to shine it up. Na'Mira just couldn't have that. She had to keep her rust and thorns on the surface, as a warning to anyone who might approach.

But to her relief, it was a woman -- at least, appeared to be a woman -- who approached her. The "sight" of long hair and perky breasts was enough to make Na'Mira sigh in relief. Women were much less likely to try the steel wool approach. If they wanted sex, they had sex, and maybe even had a piece of pizza or two afterwards. Which, now that Mira thought about it, sounded right up her ally.

Pizza and sex would be the perfect way to end the night, if she could just find the right woman to share it with.

But she couldn't get too excited, not just yet. So instead, Na'Mira leaned over, towards the voice, and asked, "What're you drinking?" It was a better way to start off the conversation than to just jump into whatever was going on. "Because if there's going to be some kind of sob story, you'd better have some hard shit in there. Like whiskey. With coke."

W O R D S * 316 ;;
T H O U G H T S * Mira still hates the world. ;;
M U S I C * Say Anything ;;
T A G G E D * Bailey ;;
W E A R I N G * [ Click! ] ;;
C R E D I T S * say anything's hate everyone ;;

template by RoyaLe of Caution 2.0

[Bailey]

To Bailey's delight and moderate relief, the woman they'd approached hadn't instantly drawn back. In fact, she seemed all too willing to spill her story, at least assuming that Bailey had some hard liquor in their glass.

Fortunately for both parties, even the cocktails Bailey drank were especially alcoholic.

"Rusty nail, actually," Bailey said, lifting up their glass before bringing it to their lips. "As far as whiskey goes, I've always preferred scotch. But that's just me." They took two long swallows, then set their glass back down on the table. Bailey could tell she was a Plus, now--they'd encountered a few on their travels--and noticed that something was a bit off. They couldn't quite place it yet, though, so they didn't bring it up. Hell, they probably wouldn't bring it up even if they could place it. It was her business and her story to tell, not theirs. And they hoped that she would tell her story. Speaking of which.

"You don't seem one for small talk. I like that," Bailey said, nodding a little. "Cut right to the chase. No bullshit. 'S good." They were feeling a little better, though that was probably the alcohol. Or maybe it was just from being around someone that wasn't planning to beat around the bush for hours before even starting to really talk to them. Bailey wanted a friend, not someone that was going to talk about topics they deemed safe just because they were safe. Talk about boring.

Bailey had never been quite good at the whole "normal person" thing, though. They weren't one for small talk or office jobs or comparing fantasy football teams or talking incessantly about their child. Lily was their personal business, not their work business. Maybe that was why they didn't have a job.

"Anyway. Go ahead whenever you're ready."

word count [[ 305 ]]
notes [[ none ]]
tagged [[ Na'Mira Williams  ]]
mood [[ decent ]]
credits [[ save yourself, i'll hold them back by my chemical romance ]]