Logs:When the sun and moon and stars are gone

When the sun and moon and stars are gone
Dramatis Personae Kitty, Tabitha
In Absentia	2020-10-28 she twists everything. Makes you feel like you're crazy and that she's the only one that can fix you.
Location <NYC> Kitty's Apartment - Inwood
This two bedroom flat in Inwood has seen better days, but the current occupants have worked gamely to make the space cozy. The window in the living area looks out onto an alley, but the sill is spruced up with rock lamps and succulents. There is a dusty television pressed up against one blue-painted wall, opposite a faux-leather couch covered in throw blankets. The walls are covered in posters - bands, mostly, leading toward Anya's room, and astronomy event toward Kitty's. The kitchen is clean and barebones - some dishes are always in the drying rack, and a fruit basket is generally full of apples and bananas. It was late to most, a few minutes away to midnight, but for Tabitha -- it was an early night. She is sitting on the couch with her thin limbs sprawled out to a similar effect of a starfish. A loose black muscle tee and denim short shorts draped on her body as her thick sunglasses shielded her eyes from the light. It was unclear if she was sleeping or not at first, but the gentle drum of her fingers kept her from dazing off fully. The front door was haphazardly left open with dirt leading to where Tabitha is now. From the other room, there is a gentle stirring and shuffling of feet as someone climbs out of bed. Kitty steps through the shut door, wearing much the same clothes as this morning. She's showered sometimes in the last hour, her curly hair still recovering its bounce. Her eyes cast around, widening with alarm when she spots the open door. "Shit." Kitty doesn't even notice the dirt in her haste to shut, lock, and chain the door. She takes a deep breath before turning around. "Okay. Are you sober?" She pauses. "Sober enough to talk? We need to talk." "Yeah, I'm sober." She doesn't move her position, and her voice is monotone. "Sober enough." At that, she flicks her sunglasses to the top of her head. "If it's about the mess, I'm sorry, but I can't promise to do better 'cuz I probably wont." "I do not care about that right now," Kitty says, though she pauses for a moment. "Actually, can you take your shoes off when you come in?" Very quickly she shakes her head. "Not important, never mind." There isn't much room on the couch so Kitty sits down on the floor, anxiously twisting a lock of hair in her fingers. "Okay. So. Someone came looking for you here this morning." She bites her lip. "Don't freak out. It was Sylvia." Tabitha is indifferent to everything she says, right until those six letters. She immediately sits up with her face contorting wickedly in betrayal. "What?" Her blue eyes dart between Kitty's, her intense stare seemingly piercing the other's soul. "Why--" She chokes on her words. "Why didn't you--" Choke. She breaks her gaze, holding her head in her hands. She's quiet, but the thump of her boot tapping on the floor fills the room. Abruptly, Tabitha springs from her seat, brows furrowed deeply. "W-why didn't you call? Text?" Her voice is surprisingly soft, barely above a whisper. "I-I told you about her," a rise of her voice, "I TOLD you what -- what she IS! And you couldn't be BOTHERED to let me know?" "I'm sorry. I panicked." Kitty bites her lip harder. "I wanted to talk to you in person about it." She stays seated, but she is vibrating, trembling slightly. "I was really freaked out - I don't know how she got this address. Still am freaked out." Her eyes look up at Tabitha, wide and fearful. "She's everything you said. I recorded the conversation -" here she pulls out her phone, flicks to Voice Memos and sets it on the coffee table - "and she was really trying. To manipulate me against you." Her answer seems to calm Tabitha, her shoulders slouching. "That's just what Sylvia does." She takes a seat alongside Kitty on the floor. "She -- she twists everything. Makes you feel like you're crazy and that she's the only one that can fix you." She curls her knees to her chest and stares at the phone. Tabitha is trying to control it, but her legs and hands are trembling, eyes watering, jaw tensing. "Just -- just play the fucking thing." "Yeah." Kitty seems rattled - is rattling, a little bit, her body causing the coffee table to move a little bit. "I don't know if I said the right things - I was just trying to get her to go away." She hits play, watching Tabitha's face carefully as the recording goes. The sound of Sylvia's voice shocks her, eyes opening as wide as they can. A few tears fall as she speaks, biting her lip hard enough to bleed. Her face stays like this for most of the recording, and even a few seconds after. "Fuck, man," she shifts her jaw and turns away from her. Her fingers tap on her forearm as she thinks. "Do you believe her?" She faces Kitty now, her piercing gaze returning. "Do you think I'm a-a danger to myself and others?" Kitty reaches a hand out, setting it lightly on Tabitha's leg. "Fuck no." Kitty gives a small smile. "I think you're having a rough go of it, and I think that you deal with that in a very dramatic way that I'm not used to? But -" she gives a little shrug. "You're out on the streets and you are not blowing people up, even though right now even I would love to see explosions." Her expression softens. "Obviously I worry about you. But that's not the same thing." Tabitha hangs onto every word. At the end, she smiles softly, but this fades as tears run down her cheeks. "Y'know what the sad thing is?" She chuckles coldly. "I... I want to believe you, so fucking bad, but I..." She licks her lower lip. "I can't. I just -- I can't." She stands up, wiping her eyes. "Because you say that, but you're just like everyone else. I-I'll fuck up, and you'll -- you'll hate me, and then I'm alone again." She sniffles. "Well, I'll save you the trouble." She cups her hands tightly as white light shines through the gaps of her fingers. After a second, she opens them, and tosses a medium-sized bomb over her shoulder as it lands on the couch. Without saying more, she walks away from both the bomb and Kitty, this time -- closing the door behind her. Kitty swears under her breath, clutching the bomb and phasing it into the couch. The blast knocks her onto her back, but the room is unhurt. As soon as she can she's back on her feet, running through the door and yelling at Tabitha's retreating back. "Jesus, wait!" It's a pitiful cry, and Tabitha doesn't turn. Kitty stands in the hall, breathing hard. "Oy va fucking voy."