2020-02-11 - Firefly Forest And Friends

It's a pretty damn cold night, which is basically par for the course in Gray Harbor this winter. Earlier in the evening, Gigi sent out a text to Ember to meet her at the Firefly Forest where they use to kick it and that she'd bring the booze. Now sitting beneath her hood on an overturned log, Gee is hitting her vape and blowing out a cloud of steel gray out the corner of her mouth. She's wearing her leather jacket, beanie and welding goggles, a white ratty black sweater with her fingers stuck through holes in the sleeves, a pair of torn knee jeans with leggings, and big unlaced combat boots.

There's music playing on her celphone. Something rap, probably, because that's her speed and she has a fire burning beneath the overhang of one of the big trees. If the shadows look like they're dancing a little that's clearly the effect of the fire right? Right.

Ember considered the text long and hard.

Coming home has been pretty difficult on them. Everyone else has moved on for years but they can't help but feel stuck in the past.

The past with Gigi was pretty damn good but it isn't at all the present.

"God they liked the woods..." is finally muttered and Ember texts that they will be there.

It takes a bit of wandering to remember where the old place use to be, it has been years away from the woods and a teenagers memory is super different if for no reason other than the added height and perspective.

Honestly the fire really helps.

"Hey Gee." they finally call out when they get into view.

Gee is tossing bits of broken stick into the fire with little jerks of her wrist. Lit by the glow flickering off the fire, she looks haggard and like she hasn't slept in days.. with the collective nightmare that was the morning before? Who had, right? Certainly no one who glimmers..

Something was different. Something she couldn't put her finger on, immediately, but she knew it was different somehow.

Lost in her thoughts, she almost misses the greeting, but glances up when she hears foot steps in the underbrush to smile weakly at Ember stumbling out into the glow of the fire. "Hey babe..." The rest of the stick she was breaking off is tossed at the flame in favor of gripping a beer between her fingers to hold out in Embers direction. "Thought you were going to stand me up."

Ember was definitely disturbed last night, god thing they didn't just light the house on fire when they woke up in the moment of being crushed and tormented in the dream that was thankfully not a DREAM.

Still it was bad and now everything is completely out of whack.

"Nah... just got turned around a bit. Did you realize we are taller and plants grow a lot when you are gone for years... I didn't really think to account for that bullshit." a wry if sad expression for a moment.

Ember accepts the beer and plops down by Gigi and looks at the fire. "Sure you want a fire around a known arsonist and deliquent?" amusement really, they sound tired but the humor is still there.

Gigi grabs another beer and twists it around in her grip to pop off the top with the bottom part of her vap tucked in against her knuckle like a lever. She doesn't even bother trying to follow it and just lets it tumble down to the ground without a care in the world.

Truth is, she looks exhausted.

If she's slept since two yesterday morning, it wasn't much sleep at all.

"Yeah, it doesn't make it any easier when you're watching it grow, either." She says with her usual smirk.. with an attempt at it anyways. The bottle comes up for a long pull, vape pen held out in Ember's direction while she drinks.

"I figured..." Wiping at the corner of her mouth with the palm side of her sweater sleeve, "There are worse ways to go than being burned alive... besides-" She burps loud enough to startle animals and throws the empty bottle at the fire, immediately grabbing another from the sixer.

"I don't know what, besides, I didn't think that far ahead..."

Ember takes a long pull on the beer that was handed to them, thinks about it after swallowing and then takes another long pull tipping the bottle up and finishing it in one straight moment there. Maybe they believe they need to play catch up.

The bottle s tossed near the full beers and Ember accepts the vape, testing the air with her nostrils flaring to make sure it is weed before taking a drag and just holding onto it before blowing it out.

Then she finally talks. "Better than sufocating or being crushed... well maybe.. it would at least be a lot faster ... or maybe slower if you lived... eh fuck if I know." there is a tired sigh. "I'm not going to burn you Gee.. you're one of my only friends around here and at least you aren't giving me the wide eyes..."

Big sigh.

"I knew you wouldn't." Gee says with a smirk, up tossing another beer over the top of the fire towards Ember, "I doubt I'd have come out here by a fire if I thought you would burn my ass." She dips down to pull up another, twisting the cap off. Her fingers roll it up between her thumb and middle finger with her wrist cocked back. When she snaps, the bottle cap whistles out of her fingers and disappears somewhere out in the shadows hanging omenously around them. They are entirely darker than they should be.

That's Firefly Forest for you though.

Be damned, though, if it didn't look like that tree moved out of the way.

Gigi barely pays it any mind as she up ends her bottle for another long pull. "Truth be told, I'm glad you're home. Grant, Sparrow.. we don't hang out like we use to. They've got their shit going on... Sparrow mostly." Rubbing at ther back of her neck, then across her forehead. "Anyways..."

She holds her hand out with the bottle pointed in Ember's direction, "To you being back."

Ember catches the beer "I haven't even seen Grant or Sparrow since I got back... I really should try to corner the two of them sometime soon and ...well let em know I'm alive I guess."

Ember's eyes narrow a littlein the direction that bottlecap was winged into the woods.

That was creepy.

Seriously though Ember was pretty sure all the woods crap from childhood was just crap and later getting high.

That was creepy.

With a puff of breath Ember takes a deep pull of her second beer now.

"So what are you doing these days other than getting high?" genuinely curious.

Gigi honest to god just accepts it. If she saw the way the tree seemed to move, she certainly doesn't acknowledge it, but this is her reality all the time. Ember's getting reacclimated. In truth Giada has always been kind of ... overly accepting of the way Gray Harbor operates.

There's plenty of weird shits that happen.

Best not to dwell.

Besides she has real problems to contend with that leave real problem bruses and busted lips.

"Speaking of, let me text Bax.." That's Grant, they call him Bax. Fishing her phone out of her back pocket, beer tucked in between her leg and the stump, "mm.. Well.. I was in school for a few semesters, but I fucked that shit up getting high instead of getting my ass to class."

Thumbing the cheap ass Obama phone to shoot off a text, then disappear the phone beneath her hip.

"Now..." Shrugs, "Nothing? Hang out with Kai or Ali.. Bax sometimes.. get high.. piss off the cops. I'm like thirty percent sure I'm going to be in prison before I'm twenty four."

(TXT to Grant) Giada : Hey Bax, you okay? Weird shit. HMU

"Mood." Ember notes sourly. "Though I would take prison over that juvie psyche hospital they sent my ass to...." yeah best not dwell they frown squinting at the fire then loses the look taking another long pull of the beer.

"Tell Bax I'm back maybe that will wake his skinny ass up." staring now into the fire. "Yah know.... god fuck damn I am tired today.... so what are you going to do besides prison if you fucked up school?"

"Me too." Gigi admits about being tired, "Haven't been to sleep since yesterday this time..." Glancing at one of the three watches with a little frown, hand coming up to pinch the bridge of her nose. Are the shadows starting to close in a little? The fire certainly isn't dying, but it sure does appear like there's just not as much space outside their circle.

"Fucker's probably stoned." She says with a snorting laugh, sucking down the rest of her second beer. The bottle rolls off her fingers onto the edge of the fire. Reaching down for a third, she answers the question, "Don't even know. Maybe work on cars or something.. I want to get a motorcycle." She muses, arms draped across her thighs, hand out stretched for her vape.

"What about you? You planning on going career criminal or is this a fade?"

"Not that I'm complaining, mind you. Do you, I like being the local drug persons old fuck buddy. Looks good on my drug resume."

"I am unsurprised he still gets stoned on a regular basis...." pure amusement there with Ember's tone. Though they do keep an eye on the shadows around them and sips the beer a touch slower now.

"I've got my bike still.. parents didn't up and sell it so that is a plus. I had to get it winterized with this stupid ass weather though or I'd be out killing myself every day on it... cold as hell riding right now though."

Ember takes another hit of the vape and then offers it up and over to Gigi.

"I don't know.. might shop around and see if anyone will hire an obvious menace.. but not like I am going to stop dealing on the side even then... so your resume is safe I guess." amusement. "ou should try to get a job in an auto shop.. or well chop shop maybe..."

"Heh, yeah." Gigi chuckles with a brisk, almost tired nod about Grant, "Fucking dumbass." If there's a way to make that sound affectionate, she certainly has done so. She's not paying the shadows any mind.

She never does though.

Doesn't mean they're not moving.

They are definitely moving.. it's just slow enough that most people wouldn't notice it.

"Yeah? Well I guess they're not total cunts.. should have brought it to me, you know I'd have hooked you up." Accepting her vape pen back to take a beast hit, which she holds until sputtering it out from mouth and nostrils. Nodding with read face and coughing against her forearm, "Remember Ellis? I think he's your cousin or some shit actually.. Anyways, he said he would introduce me to some people... that was like a fucking month ago though."

She shrugs indifferent, swinging her beer lazily. "Wouldn't mind working in an autoshop... or.. shit yeah, a chop shop would be dope as fuck right? Maybe we should... Eh.. fuck, nevermind.. I don't have any money.. but it'd be fucking awesome if we could open a shop. You work the counter, I fix the cars.. sell a little product on the side to pad your wallet..." Smirking, shrugging a shoulder.

"Pipe dreams.. proper white trash mecca."

"God I have a lot of fucking cousins in this town..." that would be the only reminder really there.

Thoughtful glare at the shadows as if daring them to start some shit by a fire even.

"I could probably introduce you to something if you know what you wanted to do.. I mean Joey knows everyone sketchy.. or he use to.. I imagine he still does. Though I really need to catch up with him still.. so many people to talk too now that I am back in town." now Joey, he is definitely Ember's cousin.

"Well you probably need to work a shop and get certifications and shit.. unless it is a chop shop... before you can open your own Gee." a smirk sidelong, it is falling right back into affectionate though.

It doesn't hurt that Ember really feels like they never left at this point.

"Are the shadows fucking with me Gi?"

"You really fucking do, dude.." Gigi laughs at that, shacking her head, "Fucking related to everyone... your family tree must be straight as fuck.." Pause, thoughtful... more laughing, "Figuratively speaking."

It is about as good natured as there can ever be slung an insult. Grinning across the fire at her friend, "God I missed you."

She's still laughing at mention of Joey, "Jesus, I haven't seen him in.. forever." rubbing her neck, finally glancing around when Ember actually mentions the shadows with the laughter dying in her tone.. "What?" Shadows fucking with them?

She sniffs back hard and rubs at her nose, one squinting eye trailing steadily around the exterior circle cast off from the glow of the fire. "Huh.. no.. shit looks like they're fucking with you, man.." She aint scuurd though. Takes a lot to scare a Gigi.

"Want to get out of here or finish these beers?" Eyeing the pair of bottles still left in the case. Clearly her opinion is bias, since she reaches down to pull one out for herself. "YO! Back the /fuck/ off..." She shouts at the woods, "I don't have time for your /games/.. so either shit or get off the toilet."

"You know.. I am not sure how many of the extended family is queer." it is one of those drunk and a bit high revelations. I mean that isn't what Gigi meant and all but it has them very distracted for a moment.

"I missed you too babe."

"Finish the beers. If they want to start shit I'll finish shit." and Ember holds their hand out for a fresh beer. "This whole woods shit was a lot more fun when we were in our teens and I didn't have crippling night terrors."

"Fucking most of Gray Harbor is gay as fuck." Gigi confids with a snort, twisting the cap off another bottle and snapping the cap out into the darkness as a physical ''fuck you'' to whatever is lurking out there. It isn't that she's disbelieving, only that she doesn't care. Her real world is pretty fucked. The shadows can do their worst.

The bottle up ends for a guzzling drink after which she wipes her mouth with the palm of her sleeve.

"I think when the revolution starts.. Homobase one will be right here in Washington State." Motioning around with her beer.

She hits the pen again and slides it inside her jacket pocket, slowly letting smoke boil out from the corners of her mouth. "You get that shit yesterday?" There's an elephant in the forest and she might as well finally stop beating around asking it. "Woke me up like a lawn dart in the leg.. shit feels different as fuck now.."

"Well we may need to compete with San Francisco for that title.. but yeah... I like how queer friendly this small hick town is... I mean so much of Washington and Oregon are full of dickhole fascists and nazis... so yeah nice here."

"....."

What Gigi said finally catches up with Ember and Ember squints at her.

"You had the nightmare too and can feel the change around here?"

Gigi inclines her head and glances around at the surrounding darkness which is... just.. there. It's definitely closing in around them. The fire isn't burning in less bright, the flame is licking pretty high and sending off plenty of warmth, but it just isn't penetrating the gloom like it should. Right at the edge of that darkness it's bright, no natural tapering off... it just.. ends in black.

"Something like that." Half assed greeing about Washington state, San Fran... or both.. Suddenly she's paying a lot more attention go their surroundings..

And standing up.

"Yeah, I had it too." She turns the beer up, held between her fingers, and finish it. The empty bottle is hurled out passed the light.

It isn't unusual that it disappears into the gloom.

It might be unusual that there's no sound of landing in the grass..

"Well shit."

Ember is trying to split their attention now between shadows encroaching on them both and the answer from Gigi about the dream. When their friend stands though they stand as well.

"Damn.. okay... do you know why we had the same dream or shit Gee?"

Their eyes follow the arc of the bottle and yeah no crash in brush.

"Fucking shit... okay... what do we do?" rusty. Ember is rusty. Ember also never glimmered as a kid.

"Do you think it burns?" odd question.

Gigi is suddenly very serious. Green eyes searching that exterior wall of black with slow moving eyes where she's standing directly beside the fire... A few side steps brings her up beside Ember after she's grabbed her phone, but one glance down at it confirms what she was worried about. Holding it up to show Ember that she's got no signal.

"I think we're dreaming, babe." She says with a frown, sliding the device into her back pocket by habit rather than necessity given what she just revealed. Gigi never glimmered as a kid either, was a few months after Ember left that her abilities manifest.

She sure as shit glimmers now though.

She closes her eyes for a second but still seems to be looking around despite that fact. "Aint shit out there.. Nothing I can feel anyways." She juts her chin out at the darkness, "Let's see if the scarecrow is afraid of fire, eh? You hear that, dick bird? She's charging her fucking lasers..."

Noticed that fire smolder, which is how they sees it, people burning with an inner fire in them. Probably tainted with how Ember's own experience that woke their abilities up in High School.

Ember isn't entirely sure what it means though. The Asylum well it was a shit show of lost memories right now and Ember has not pushed to remember.

Still despite the stress Ember asides "They." to Giada as they stare out at the shadows.

Ember sweeps their hand out towards the fire and then juts her hand out at the darkness causing a roil of flame to form. Yeah they can do this even if their line of sight is obstructed.

Mostly Ember is throwing their anger out at the shadows.

"What the hell is dreaming!?"

"They are charging their lasers. Sorry babe..." Gigi corrects herself with a little frown, "Situational fuck up." Motioning a finger at the dark.

A darkness that is soon ripe with blazing fire curling out from Ember's hand to cut a scathing slash into it.

It's strange, the reaction. It's like it was physically wounded by the burn.. and where the small inferno touched is left behind a more normal representation of what the shadows should look like.. as if the fire is erasing the evil blackness from an etch-e-scetch to reveal the canvase beneath. "Well that certainly fucking worked, good job..." Said as she leans over to grab one of the big logs and hurl it like a javalin into the blackness. It whistles through in much the same fashion and leaves behind a normal looking treeline all the way back to where the log sits burning against a tree trunk.

"Dreaming..." She says almost as an after thought... Looking to Ember, "As in, we're not awake right now."

"I feel pretty fucking awake right now Gigi...." consternation in Ember's voice, anxiety and growing anger, glimmering more by the moment as they get angrier.

Also... The eruption of flame is more centered on the shadows than hurled.. does it cut a swath along the darkness absolutely.. but Ember can't quite hurl fireballs.

Quite.

Stll Ember points angrily at the shadows now and then shouts, it is a gutteral angry noise and a wave of fire erupts in the woods around them both, it is .. a good deal more fire than the first swipe. Just roiling to life in a circle around them and falling outwards.

Man Ember is angry, also they were fucking spot on with the name they picked.

"How are you not fucking freaking GEE"

"So do I, but that doesn't mean we're not dreaming, dude." Gigi is turning in a small circle to watch the shadows.. Either she's super crazy calm or she's super crazy, but chances are it's either one or the other. There are no middle ground when it comes to Giada. Black and white. Always black and white.

As the fire errupts like a wave of inferno around her, however, her eyes widen dramatically. "That's what the fuck /I'm/ talking about. Fuck yeah, babe.. show that creepy ass shadow shit who's boss." As the fire burns through the darkness the sounds of the woods returns.. animals, crickets, even the occational bird. How long had it been that deathly silent anyways?

It's like the sudden return of sound draws to memory the fact that it hadn't even been there before. Except the crackling hiss of the fire burning, anyways. It was a constant.

Hypontic really.

"Dude, I pissed myself like six minutes ago." She says to Ember with a shrug, "I'm just use to this shit, I guess.. Now.. let's get the fuck out of here?"

Ember is breathing heavy, adrenaline.

It isn't like Ember didn't burn .. a lot of people or break their bones in the Asylum.

Hell Ember probably has a body count beyond the Veil.

But They Do Not Remember It Clearly. It is just a jumble of memories and unimportant .. don't focus on me bullshit.

"I... do not understand..." yup they still sound pissed, and not at all used to it. Despite that .. the anger and fire burns very bright inside them.... so much lost time.

"Fuck..." and Ember snags the last beer and nods "I have no idea how to get home in a hurry.. you lead.. I need more of this but not out here not tonight.. fuck... fuck Gee..."

Giada wasn't even bullshitting, she pissed herself. This is some Edgar Allen Poe shit... and while her tolerance level is pretty high, there's a line, and this crossed it. So when Ember starts panting, Gigi grabs her wrist, "Come on, we're going."

She's spent enough time in these woods that she can navigate them pretty easily, but even she is prone to getting turned around when the woods are playing games. There's been nights she came out here alone, slept out here even, when Bax wasn't home and she'd been kicked out of her house.. the fact that she, right now, is running through them with her heart pounding is saying a great deal about the nature of what's going on.

The fact that, when she finally sees the lights of the trailer park, she actually shouts a "FUCK YES!" is saying something else. She hates that place and everything it represents in her life.

Upon breaking out of the tree line, she's panting, but still somehow looks like she's calm as a cucumber, which she absolutely is not by the way she keeps staring back into the gloom that.. is largely just regular gloom at this point. "You okay?" Leaning over, hands on her knees, panting to catch her breath.. which is not how that works.

Ember doesn't pull away or anything, nope they let Giada grab their wristand drag them out of the woods. Following the guidance and trying to not trip ..

Which is a real risk. Adrenaline pumping. Two beers and a couple hits in there.

Also yeah by the time they break the tree line well Ember is definitely breathing harder. The fuck sake. Need to work out more.

When Giada asks if they are fine or okay rather, they hold up one hand in a wait a minute motion and finish off the last beer before tossing it back into the woods behind them.

"Yes... I will live... though god I need a shower and more booze and sleep...."

Gigi glances around at the trailer park without straightening up from the lean down against her knee. Bitch is still holding her own beer, but it's all foamy now from running. Does she care? No she does not care. She up ends the bottle and drinks the head because that's how Giada's roll. The bottle, like Ember's, is thrown out into the woods with a hopping over hand lob. "Fuck you shadowy shit fucker."

She's still a little winded and sweating across her brow, but damned if she's not a tough bitch. She always has been. She had to be. She's been fighting a grown ass man since she was a teenager.

"Hell yeah.. I'm going to call Albert to come pick me up and sit in the fucking hot tub for a year, dude... fuck this.." Double middle finger at the woods, "Make me piss myself.. I'm coming back and burning these fucking woods down.."

"In the morning. I'm doing that in the morning..."

For logistical reasons.

Also well not going back in there right now seems like a very good idea right. So yeah burning it all down in the morning right. "Right. Morning."

They shake their head and glare at the woods. "Who the hell is Albert and why do they own a hot tub?" pause "Who the hell do you know that can own a hot tub..." okay yeah Ember is being very direct but it has been a crazy night.

Also they aren't looking forward to trudging home, but well it will be done soon. Shower is definitely on the agenda.

"That's the spirit." Gigi finally stands up, hand in the small of her back as she stretches out straight with a groan. "Think I pulled an ass muscle, shit.." She's limping, at least favoring her left leg anyways, towards the front of the trailer park. Hand fishing out her phone.

"Albert.. it's uh... well.. it's Kai's driver." Jerking her head in the direction of the street, "She has a driver." Said over her shoulder. Her hand scoops her beanie off along with her goggles, thumbing over her contacts almost effortlessly without actually looking at the screen.

"Kai has a hot tub. Technically, I guess it's just a whirl wind bath tub, but it's fucking huge and I'm definitely sitting in it for a day.." Both beanie and goggles into her jacket pocket, "Or I can get us both an uber, fuck't. Where are you staying?"

"Who in Gray Harbor has a driver... and a hot tub..." it is an exasperated sort of statement, maybe the As but that family is wierd and not asian.

Still Ember is following you out now towards the front.

"Oh... um.. fuck... I live over on Elm still. Crashing with my stupid parents who let me sent them upstate. At least until the get fucking sick of me being around I guess right..... need to get enough cash to move out .. or maybe crash with my cousins..."

Unhappy noise.

"Kai does." Gigi repeats as if that's an honest question, but there's no to telling what kind of drugs are in her system or how many beers she had before Ember showed up. "I've got an Uber enroute. Not sure if Albert would even pick me up if Kai wasn't with me." She slips the phone back into her pocket and flicks off her moms trailer as they pass it.

If it weren't so late she'd probably slink in to see Bug, though.

"Eh, yeah, but at least they live in a house I guess? Up until a few nights ago I was sleeping on the floor of a roach infested trailer.. or on the couch of a roach infested traier... or in the bed of a roach infested trailer." Her three states of being for her previous three states of living arrangements.

"Man.." Glancing back at the woods that seem so far away now, rubbing her hand over her curly hair to scoop it all forward, then smooth it back again. "Where you serious about putting in a word for me with your cousin? Don't get me wrong, I love sleeping on silk sheets and shit, but I'm always kind of waiting for her ass to realize what a fucking loser I am and kick my ass to the curb... and I'd like to.. I don't want to come back to this fucking trailer, dude.. and I want to have a place I can have Bug come live with me eventually.."

"Huh... Kai does..." it is more a statement of fact at this point and Ember just shakes their head as they continue to follow Giada to the street.

"Sure though.. I can talk to Joey and see what kind of work around town there might be... maybe we can be roomies if you ever do get kicked out."

Yeah Ember isn't about to say that Gigi won't ever fuck this shit up. Because well. They do know their friend and the chance of fucking it up is non-zero right.

"also yeah house but they could evict my skinny ass at any moment... so hurrying to save a security deposit and shit..." Ember's ass isn't that skinny.

"I notice how you didn't say I was going to be fine." Gigi says, smirking over at Ember. At the road, she jumps up and smacks the sign over the road that reads Huckleberry Mobile home. Mostly out of defiance than necessity and finds somewhere to lean while they wait for the uber driver. There's some park benches across the way, but... that's over there.

Her hand snakes into her jacket to grab her vape and hits it, holding it out towards Ember, "Here, skinny bitch." Smokey voice, sucking air in to keep from blowing out the vapor. "You'll d-" Coughing sputter, spitting off to the side, Gee continues after smoothing back her hair, "You just can't let them fucking send you back to that shit hole.."

Glancing up the road for headlights. "Or send me a fucking message if they do, man, I'll come get you the fuck out or something, shit.. How did you go nine years without even writing? Don't they give you crazy fuckers crayons or something? I should have got a post card or /something/.."

They really hadn't talked about it. Side glancing Ember, tongue running along the inside of her lip, "Yeah, get the hell out from under their thumb babe... Fuck't. If nothing else, I can be your muscle. Shoot me some cash, I'll go fuck someone up if they don't pay." Smirking, elbow jutting out towards her friend with another glance up the road.

Ember snorts "I know our luck Gee... I know our luck..." so yeah no they didn't say it would be fine.

They do accept the vape though and take another deep hit and then offers it back. "If they kick me out they can't send me back.. I don't think... I think I just scrounge couches to crash on worst case there right..."

"I.. don't know." the bit about writing. "I don't think the doctors let us write anyone or have visitors really... I don't remember anyone visiting." and then they wince like thinking about it all hurts. Like really hurts so Ember shakes their head. "I .. I don't want to talk about it..." and well they reach up and pop their jaw now. "Fuck.. uh.. is the uber here.. I mean I can probably walk home or something...."

Gigi snort laughs herself, up nodding at Ember, "I've been sleeping on peoples couches for years, babe. Plenty of good friends would lend you some leather if you needed it." Her hand slides over to squeeze her friends shoulder, chin jutting out towards the headlights coming up the street.

"Think this is us." Ducking as she pushes off the tree with a foot in the direction of the street, but she does turn to regard Ember with narrowed eyes when she gets all headachey about talking on what happened up state. "Yeah.. you don't have to say shit, man.. I was just busting your balls about it.. I know how that shit is." Not really, worst Gee's done is Juvie.

But then their rides here and she's leaning on the window, "Two different stops. Elm and then Bayside." Sliding back to open the door for her old pal. "After you." Waving a hand in. "I'll even pay for the ride because I'm fucking classy." Also, it's a bribe so nobody ever knows she pissed herself.

Honestly well Ember really on some level wants to understand all this crazy shit, but not tonight.

Tonight has had enough crazy shit really.

Ember piles into the Uber now and shakes their head. "Okay cool.... very classy.... I've always wanted to ride in a Prius..."

When the driver glares Ember laughs "Sorry,... had to ... no offense."

"You're getting paid, mother fucker." Gigi says to the driver as she crawls in after Ember and pulls the door closed, flopping over onto the window, with her elbow propped up so her cheek can rest in it.

"Customer's always right cock sucker... you're driving a baby dick car.. now drive before I pull you out the window and /beat you/ with your bitch ass car.." Rolling hers, "Ungrateful cunt."

"You just fucked your five start review with that glare.." Pointing at the mirror, "Drive."

the hand slaps at Ember's shoulder, brow furrowed, motioning at the front seat as if to quietly ask 'what the fuck'?

Honestly Ember hasn't really rode in Ubers before so this is all a pretty new concept for them. I mean yeah they have seen people do it since they got back but .. very new concept.

Life is super fucked up.

"I really need to see what this app is about..." they muse and then relax back with a smirk to Gaida.

Hell Ember has no idea Gigi is fucking up her rider score this way.

"Missed you Gee... a lot I think." is admitted and well it isn't too long for Ember's stop. "Thanks for the lift."

Hell, even Gigi doesn't know she's fucking up her rider score this way.

She doesn't use uber often.

Ever really.

When they hit Ember's street she bobs her head at her friend and grins, "I missed you too, babe. I'm glad you're home." Leaning over to give them a hug, deciding.. probably for the drivers sake, to walk the rest of the way. She needs to cool off anyways. "Hey, text me later, huh?" As she slides out along with Ember, walking a few steps backwards along the sidewalk with ehr hands in her pockets.

After the third step, she skip turns and starts strolling, shoulders hunched forward.. beanie once more fixed on her head over her ears. Might have been warm with adrenoline, but it's still cold as balls out tonight.

Ember returns the hug, and well they mean it. Human contact is a rare thing in their world and has been for... a very long time even if they don't know it.

I mean are people in the asylum even human other than the patients?

Anyhow there is a nod. "Definitely will text you later." then waves and turns and heads in to deal with parents, who at least aren't violent just avoidant. Also a hot shower. So damn cold.

Maybe food. Damn munchies.

Also.. super weird that Gee never asked about the whole fire thing... but then Ember has to ask about this dreaming thing....

Tomorrow maybe.

After they burn down the woods or something.