2020-08-19 - February Was Bad for Everyone

(TXT to Sparrow) Giada : Hey bb. Back in town, but I'm headed to the ED because I'm dying. Happy Thursday.

(TXT to Giada) Sparrow : Uhm. Mixed emotions here.

(TXT to Giada) Sparrow : First? Don't die pls. 🖤

(TXT to Giada) Sparrow : Second. OMG! Missed your face!! 💜💙💚

(TXT to Giada) Sparrow : What's wrong??

(TXT to Sparrow) Giada : Really long story. Meet me in the park and a lot of it will be explained.. the rest you'll have to take on faith.

(TXT to Sparrow) Giada : Missed you too. Glad I'm not dead.

(TXT to Giada) Sparrow : Like now? I can be there in 15.

(TXT to Sparrow) Giada : I mean, Ill be in the hospital, so I wont be hard to find... but now is good.

(TXT to Giada) Sparrow : 🙁🙁🙁

(TXT to Giada) Sparrow : OMW

Gigi is sitting on a park bench staring up at the Hospital and genuinely looks like she's not being nearly as dramatic as the text message suggests. She looks like she's dropped fifty or sixty pounds, sallowed features, black rimmed blood shot eyes... In short, she looks like a corpse. And probably smells like one, a little. Mostly like dirt, but at least she's clean?

Hair back in a brand new beanie, despite the heat because style is way more important than her well being.

The phone is new too.

Not that that part matters.

Dressed in a small tanktop that's still too big and jeans shorts worn up with a belt that has added loops, she legit looks like she's strung out on heroin. Nobody would be surprised if that were true, would they?

Sparrow estimated the time just about right, arriving on foot maybe a minute or two after the projected fifteen. Her hair's purple now, definitely a change from the last time she saw Gigi, but her style's otherwise pretty standard. Today, it's rainbow-dyed denim cut-offs, well-worn sneakers and a black tee shirt with a creepy drippy white eye on the front. The shirt might be a pointed choice given the looks she draws, a couple of middle-aged women several yards away spending more time whispering to each other about the girl with thirteen kids rather than watching their own. She angles a challenging look their direction, brows high and jaw set, and one quickly pretends at politeness while the other doubles down on disapproval. Whatever. It's not Sparrow's problem.

Sparrow's problem is the very concerning state of her friend, worry furrowing her forehead as she draws closer to Giada. "What the fuck, G?" she all but whispers once she's close enough, dropping down beside her on the bench. "You look like somebody's kept you in their basement for the last six months oh gods please tell me that's not what happened..."

Gigi is paying attention, it's just that her attention is dramatically smaller than normal. Extending a few yards out. There were already rumors about the unfortunate fate that await the 'Trailer Park Princess', the sad soul who would one day wind up living in the street with a needle in her arm. She wears it well... she also doesn't give a rats ass about most anyone here.

Perking up at the purple hair, she inclines her head and lifts a gaunt hand to wave at the approaching Sparrow drawing unusual glances from the middle aged soccor moms... That's new. "Uhh... Yeah, about that, remember when I came over ranting about trees trying to eat me?..." Glancing over at said soccor moms with her head cant before taking Sparrow in, finger angled in their direction, "What gives?" Apparently she's not heard about her friends thirteen critters.

Sparrow hasn't quite precisely heard about her own situation either. Which means she gets it all wrong when she explains, "I have no fucking clue. Somebody put up a gofundme campaign under my name to support me and my kids after my work burned down last month and. I dunno. I've been getting weird looks like that since." Technically, since before that, but she hasn't even begun to piece together the cause and effect, reading the situation as some sort of personal attack rather than Gray Harbor fuckery at the moment.

After another scowl toward the gossips, she shifts in her seat to focus fully on Giada and give her a better look over now that she's closer and can see the depths of her friend's emaciation. "It really doesn't matter," she says of her own situation. And then her mouth opens, working around a question that it takes a few seconds to shape. "Did the trees have a basement..?" It's not exactly the idea she wants to convey, but it does sum up the horror building in the back of her brain. "We shoulda looked for you. I just... I assumed..." Who wouldn't need to get out of town for a bit after that?

Gigi tilts her head and rubs the back of her super thin neck, nodding at the fuckery of rumor mills in this town and... just the run of the mill Gray Harbor variant. "You had kids while I was gone?" Amused... god so amused. Gi has no business grinning in her condition, after what she's clearly been through, but there she is smirking as she looks at Sparrow in her sad fate as a mother. "Six months, babe.. what the fuck kind of voodoo magic impregnation were you into?"

Obviously there's no way.

The rest... Gigi shrugs and then lets the arms drop back down. "And done what? I get it, honestly. This place..." Flicking her hand around, "It just does whatever the fuck it wants, be damned what anyone feels about it.. in this particular case.. I went out there looking for Ember." Hand clutching the new phone between her knees. Clearly not worrying about silly things like shaving her legs in light of her condition... or ever for that matter.

"I mean, a few hours after I left your house.. February.. I think, maybe. Anyways, I woke up buried under leaves and shit two days ago.. Ali almost hit me with her car as I stumbled out of the woods into the trailer park."

"Obviously, I'm running an illegal adoption ring," Sparrow quips back dryly. "If you need a kid quick, I can getcha one. Or more. Cheap." Hopefully, nobody else is near enough to hear her joking about this. For all that she says it's not important, it's certainly a whole helluva lot easier to make light of the ridiculous rumors going around about her than it is to address the way more serious ordeal Giada's been through. Or the horrible truth that there's very little anyone can do about the way this town operates, how it just takes what it wants when it wants it.

She breathes out a quiet, "Yeah," to concede that point, how little she and whatever search party she might've wrangled could've done. Her concern only deepens at the explanation, frown growing more pronounced as she sets a hand lightly on Gigi's nearest arm. Another, "Yeah," confirms the timing. "February was shit." There's a whole lot of weight behind that, but she doesn't get into it just yet. Instead, she points to the hospital and asks, "What's so important that we're out here still instead of in there? Cuz you should be in there. You coulda asked me to burn Firefly Forest to the ground with an IV in your arm, G."

"Well.. if you're selling kids, I've definitely picked up a taste for toddler." Gigi is less concerned about how people look at her than Sparrow might be, which is saying something by how little Sparrow cares. She's still quiet about it since it's not her life it would ultimately complicate by joking infront of the crazy norms... Which has a thought slapping upside Gi like a wet noodle, "You ever think that these people-" Motioning at them with a turning finger, all the norms, "-are actually the crazy ones for not... not important right now." Trench observations.

She shrugs.

"I went home and proposed to Kai before I came this far... What's another few hours? I figure if Gray Harbor wanted me dead, I'd be dead..." She doesn't understand the logistics of that anymore than anyone else. That's a long time without water or food. The implications of Firefly sustaining her for the singular purpose of breaking her is terrifying in and of itself. OR WHATEVER!

WHO CAN KNOW.

"That sucker said yes, by the way." Standing, not easily, grunting.. that part just comes natural. She really is weak. "I don't want to burn them down, babe.. I want to.. remember you were talking about Lucid dreaming ... before? I have to go back in there... Ember's still there and I need to get THEM out."

Sparrow snorts a laugh at that readily expressed preference, nodding like she'll maybe work out a deal later. If rumors start circulating about Giada's cannibalism, she has mostly herself to blame, coming back from the dead looking all ghoulish and starved like that. Okay. And maybe the trees that took her, too. Jerks. As to the questionable sanity of the local citizenry? She just makes a sour face and opts not to think about it. Not now, anyway.

Her eyes flash wide at the off-hand mention of a proposal, frown dissipating under excited uncertainty. She's quickly distracted by the wobbly movement, promptly on her own feet to spot her friend in case those bony legs can't support the rest of her insignificant weight. It's a wonder those muscles are working at all, that they haven't been entirely lost to atrophy. "Yeah, but. I mean. Fuck." It's not much of an answer, but it's all she's got at first, a few seconds needed to get all the colliding thoughts in order. "First? We never really got into it. I want to, but there never seems a good time. Ya know, when everyone isn't under dire threat or grave distraction of late. And it was all theoretical. Entirely untested. I mean, obviously the experiments are meant to actually test my theories, but." She pauses, frowning. "I don't wanna promise anything I can't deliver." Which doesn't explain why she's nodding shallowly. "But we can try. If you want."

After a beat, she adds, "And second?" with her expression going all bright and wide-eyed again. "Holy fuck! Are you telling me you're getting married, Gigi!?"

God, that's how rumors start aren't they? Gigi hasn't been back long enough to know the Gray Harbor 'fuckery of the week' involves screwing with peoples heads. She'll learn, bless her heart. When it comes out she's an actual zombie. Defy expectations, Giada Blackthorne. You savage bitch, you.

Her hand rubs at the back of her neck, still unsteady, but mostly under her own power. She hasn't any clue why she's /not/ dead. Medically and scientifically she should be, but... That was never her forte. Anatomy is for the /real/ losers. So she goes with it out of necessity and not wanting people to get too worked up over her. Eventually she'll need some help walking, but it's subtle, a slip of her arm around Sparrow rather than asking for assistance or making a big production out of it.

Tough girl.

Grinning tough girl. Bobbing her head as dower thoughts of Ember being trapped in that god damned place forever gives way to spending that forever with Kai. "It's nuts right? All it took was nearly dying to strange shit in the woods, but yeah... she said yes. So I'm getting married.. eventually.. Tenatively. Don't pencil in for a save the date yet. I have to survive ICU first." Still, she looks positively glowing for a corpse.

Sparrow effortlessly follows Giada's lead, arm snaking behind the waif to offer a bit of support. It's a little harder to fully buy-in on the no fussing thing. She's just not a good enough liar to mask the concern which flashes across her features when she feels how damned bony her friend's hip is beneath her clothing. It's unsettling. There might be a ginger squeeze to express the worry she tries to otherwise keep fairly contained. "ICU first, yeah," she agrees with a nod. "Then engagement party." Priorities. "Then... I dunno. Figuring out how to get in. The guy I knew for sure who could do it, well. Pretty sure he did. Intentionally. Maybe not planning on coming back. But I've got my theories. And a couple of leads on who else I can ask, if that doesn't pan out." As they start toward the hospital, she assures, "I'll figure some stuff out while you're busy getting better so we can hit the ground running when you're, ya know. Able to actually run again." Dark humor makes the concern a whole lot more comfortable.

"Running is almost certainly going to be a necessary stat to improve on my character sheet." Gigi is not being meta, she's doing a D&D reference. Which she immediately regrets, "God, I can't believe I said that shit.. clearly malnurishment is affecting my inherent cool point total." All for a joke. Because she, too, has priorities.

Nodding as she tries not to limp or look weak, even though she absolutely does no matter what she pretends to the contrary. She's an /actual/ corpse. "So long as the engagement party isn't a bone fire in the woods." Dark humor works for her. She can almost forget that she actually could still die. Electrolyte embalances are no joke.

"I know where to find her, which wont make doing it any easier... but I can talk to her in dark pools.." Pause as they limp along, Gigi shuffling under Sparrow's supporting shoulder, "That or I'm fucking crazy. Which I'm not ruling out yet.. I've done a /lot/ of acid." ... another pause, seriousness seeping into her tone, as quiet as it is, "I'm sorry I disappeared. I know it's not my fault, but it was stupid going out there by myself knowing what I knew.."

"Like you aren't talking to a geek." Sparrow angles an easy smile to Giada. Really, between her chemistry major, weekly WoW raids and board game nights with the family? It's pretty clear that she's not too concerned with her own tally. Or anybody else's. Her free hand comes up to cross her... uh. Spleen? It's probably not her spleen, but it's definitely not her heart, that X drawn over the center of her chest. A promise that there'll be no parties in the woods. Possibly ever.

Whatever else she was gonna say in answer to the additional information Gigi provides gets preempted by the apology, black brows pitching upward with a hint of sternness as she agrees. "Yeah. Definitely dumb. But I get it." She flashes a frustrated frown. "February was fucked. I know I was busy tending to Bax. Distracted. Everybody was. I'm sorry we weren't in a better place to be there for you when you needed it. So you didn't feel like you had to go out there on your own." With another light squeeze to Gigi's hip, she moves on, "But you're not crazy. I mean. I dunno how what you went through is affecting your head, but I suspect that whatever is happening? It's more likely--" Her free hand comes up again, index finger lifted to circle around, indicating Gray Harbor. All of this. "I dunno that I'd trust whatever intel you've got. But it's a place to start. Even if it might be a trap."

Gigi laughs and shakes her head, absolutely having forgot about Sparrow's various geek accolades. Perfect company for her timely character sheet joke, "Right. Well I'm thinking I'm going to pick up a nice safe hobby like building and paint minitures after this... so make room in the computer lab." Bullshit, she's going back to fixing cars. Who she foolin'. A tiger don't change its stripes.

"It was a lot." February, way too heavy. Way too much change. "Half fucking crazy with all the shit going on.. I wasn't sleeping, me and Kai were fighting.. Ember disappeared... it was like a box checker game of ''fuck Gigi's world up'' and like a dumb ass I played right into it." Gray Harbor be like that though. Nodding, tilting her head as if to put it on Sparrow's shoulder, but it doesn't quite make it. "I fully expect the Battlestation is quite operational when we arrive, but if there's a chance.." Can't keep thinking about it not rush back out there to do something stupid when she's in no condition to be doing stupid things.

"Don't be sorry.. I love you guys, you know that. I also knew better. I just lost my god damned mind for a few days and paid for it. That's not on you and Bax, that's on me." Pause, "How /is/ Bax anyways?"

Another sad, distant, "Yeah," answers that assessment of February. Sparrow quietly offers up her own list of, "Things ended with Yule. Had some friends going through some seriously heavy stuff that--" Well, it's not hers to talk about, but it's clear enough that she carried some small part of that weight. "Then Bax. And, ya know." She taps at her temple without going into details. Does Gigi know? Probably not explicitly, but even cheerful girls crash sometimes, especially when burdened with a whole lot of nonsense at once. She pulls a face, expressing her disdain for February and how it did them dirty.

But there are better things to discuss. Like how is Bax! She almost squeaks with with excitement, maybe leaning a little too much into Giada. And then promptly bracing her and apologizing and, in the same breath, spilling into a ramble. "He is dating the literal last person you would think." Maybe a bit of hyperbole, but still! "You know that really fancy patisserie downtown? With all the fancy little cakes and stuff? Where Corey's been working, like, forever now?" Not even a full year. "He's dating the owner. The chef. All immaculate perfection and exacting standards." Which is pretty much the exact opposite of easy going, messy-around-the-edges, eat damned near anything, love damned near everyone Grant Baxter. "And it works. They're adorable together. It's ridiculous." Which sounds like a very good thing.

"Fucking Valentines day." Gigi says in a galeful tone, under her breath, "I haven't trusted February since Ghostbusters 2... Fucking Vigo pissing all over everything." Leave it to her, shaking her head. It's a good thing they're by a tree when Sparrow opts to seek support, Gigi holds a hand up to brace them so both don't go down like a house of cards. It's super slick. A magician would be impressed. Shaking her head at the apology, and settling in to limp/listen, to the update on Baxter.

"Hah... so our little anarchist is dating a capitalist?" LEAVE. IT. TO. GIGI. "I love it. I can't wait to see him.. I really needed to know there was still some chance of positive outcomes. If you'd told me he turned into a werewolf, I..." Free hand up, facepalming dramatically. "I don't know if I could handle that right now. Being adorable, that works for me. I can't wait to see him."

Sparrow lets out a, "Ha!" loud enough to maybe attract a few--probably disapproving--looks from passers-by and park-goers. She doesn't notice and certainly doesn't apologize. Gigi's got February properly filed. A cheerful, "Mmhmm," answers that assessment of the referenced relationship, her read absolutely spot on. Pressing her hand to her chest, she goes on to explain, "I am the werewolf." Beat. "Was. Briefly. In a dream Bax and I were in together. Only one that didn't make me want to stab literally everything. Prolly because I did stab everything. And it worked. Which was satisfying. Like... just, tore through the fabric of the dream itself and woke up." Flashing a toothy grin down at Giada, she tacks on an adorable, "Rarr."

With a far gentler shoulder bump as they draw nearer to the hospital, she promises, "But there's plenty of adorable. Plenty of good. Promise. And we'll do a whole lotta catching up when you're confirmed, like. Actually alive." Her nose crinkles a little as she looks over and murmurs, "Cuz I'm not entirely convinced yet. Let's getcha signed in, yeah?"

February can, in short, go directly to hell where it tried to send all of them.

It is a satisfying revelation to accept that singular truth.

Gigi is pleased by it. Punchy drunk pleased. Without any of the punchiness. She might shoot someone the bi- nope, she definitely did. Soccor mom staring disapproving at the odd couple friends and their jovial recollection of arguably one of the worst months in either of hteir lives gets a long, spendly, middle finger directed at them. And their toddler, who was just caught in the crossfire, poor kid. Time to grow up, you little troll.

Hopefully it's not one of Sparrow's ''adoption service'' critters.

"I'm not either." Convinced she's confirmed alive. "I've had odd tastes the last two days... no specifically for human body parts, but definitely undercooked meat. I figured it had something to do with a need of protein, but who even knows. Maybe I'm the first actual zombie..." How okay would she be with that? "I /do/ like eatin- you know what I'm better than that joke." Shaking her head, nodding towards the Addington Memorial Hospital lobby and the host of Emergency Room visitors sitting waiting their turn at the medical professionals.

While she's apprehensive of being in this place for any number of reasons, she braves that disdain as they enter to get her properly signed in. "I'll be fine. If Firefly Forest couldn't get me, malnourishment and dehydration can blow me." RARR indeed. "I could use some of those ''life altering'' ''inspirational'' dreams where I defy the status quo and topple the evils of abberant reality with force of will and abstract 'out of the box' thinking... and ample violence." Sighing wishfully, "Stabbing the darkness in the face with an uppercut would be just delightful. With or without fully body hair."

Sparrow feigns edging away from Giada at the talk of recent cravings, her grin giving away her absolute absence of worry that her friend might bite her in any less-than-fun sorta way. A sputter of laughter at the unfinished joke makes plain that she is not above that humor, a cheerful, "Mhm," answering the unspoken punchline. As she helps Gigi hobble over to a seat so they can start getting preliminary paperwork filled out, she murmurs softly, "I'll save all my best oneirogens for you get out, and we'll hunt ya up a good fuck-the-world dream." Is that how drugs and dreaming works? Not around here, surely, but she sounds happy with this plan all the same. Even if she doesn't specify where it falls on their loosely scheduled list of activities.

With that--and a quick peck to the beanie atop Giada's head--Sparrow breaks off to get Giada on the waiting list and snag a clipboard full of paperwork and a pen so they can start the pre-check-in nonsense required with every hospital visit. All the stuff that happens before talking with a nurse who will ask pretty much the same questions. Before sending them back into the waiting room until a bed opens up. It's a tedious process, but they're in it together. Despite any side-eye they get from people who should have way more important things to worry about while in the emergency room than what a twice-married mother of thirteen is doing with a literal zombie.