ArchivedLogs:Heat

Heat
Dramatis Personae Anette and Akihiro	2016-07-28 '
Location <BOM> Garden - Ascension Island
Considerably reduced from what they must have been when this place was /actually/ running at full capacity, there is nevertheless a hefty amount of garden space tucked away behind the main cabin of the compound. Somewhat haphazard in its organization, the rows of plants -- mostly vegetables, with some herbs lining the borders -- seem to be chosen somewhat at whim. Despite the disorganized mishmash of crop selection, the ground seems well-tended, fielding the occupants a decent cache of produce three seasons out of the year. To one side, a fenced-in area with a raised coop houses chickens, often noisily squawking throughout the day. It's early enough in the afternoon Akihiro should be tending to his birds. He should be changing the water and ensuring they have food, but instead he's pacing. The muscular man looks to have shrunk some, still broad but definitely thinner. Despite it being warm he's wearing long sleeves and is messing with his recently cut hair, tying the shoulder length mess behind him in a pony tail. "Shit man, I need one more fucking pill. Just this one, and then I'll quit." he grumbles quietly, pulling out an unmarked pill bottle to fumble with. "Just gotta stop the damn itching." Anette, also, could and should be doing anything else. But instead, she's wandering the island, keeping to herself as she steps quietly, barefoot in cutoff denim shorts and a black tanktop. Her face is a smidge paler than normal, emhasizing the sleep deprivation induced circles under her eyes. Fresh marks dot her arms that she keeps scratching at, likely without even realizing she's doing it. Picking up the sound of a voice, she looks up, staring curiously in the direction. That curiousity gets the best of her and she steps towards the gardens, watching Akihiro curiously as he comes into focus. "You look like shit," is all she says, crossing her arms over her chest as she watches him. Akihiro should have also known Anette was coming, but somehow she gets the drop on him. He jumps, pill bottle leaping out of his hands and rolling away. Something close to panic flashes across his face and he jumps for it, quickly pocketing it and pushing up to brush himself off. "Shit, yeah." A hand comes up to scratch at the back of his neck, "Thanks. I appreciate the compliment, good to see you too." Anette watches with a stone face as Akihiro scrambles after the bottle, making no move for it herself. "Well...you've looked worse," she adds, before ticking her head towards the bottle he's just pocketed it. "Is that it? Heat?" "What? No." Akihiro says totally convincingly. "Do I look like I'm on heat?" With bags under his eyes, his thin frame, and what looks to be a scrape further back on his cheek, the answer to that is yes. "Shit, don't answer that." He sighs quietly, running his fingers through his hair, "Yeah. That's it." "My second guess was Flintstone gummies," Anette says, rather dryly, before stepping forward. "So what do they do, besides kill your mutation? Or does it only kill healing factors?" "Healing factors." Akihiro informs Anette. "Still have my claws, they'd just tear up my arm if I used them right now." He shifts his weight a bit awkwardly. "It makes the insides of my eyes itch, I burn all over, and I can't sit still. Trust me when I say you want no fucking part in this." "But if you're taking it, it must do something good," Anette says, yellow eyes flitting over his weakened form. Finally, she holds her hand out to him, cupped as if to recieve something. "Hit me up." As if he'll just drop some in her hand because she asked nicely. "Anette.." Akihiro says quietly, looking into her eyes. "I can't do that. You need to worry about cleaning up, not starting something that's even harder to get off of." Because that isn't hypocritical at all. "Oh fuck off with your bullshit pretending to care," Anette snaps, still holding out her hand. "I just need some to tide me off. I went through my last stash of coke faster than I thought and I won't be able to get more for a few days. Now you can either hand some over or I'll take it from you and we'll see how well you hold up without a healing factor." By the way she grits her teeth and stares at Akihiro, she might be serious. "No." Akihiro holds firm. "I don't care what you do to me.. I just don't want to see you on this shit." He seems honest actually, fists clenching slightly. "And I won't give it to you, even if it means me trashing them." "Goddammit, just hand it over, please," Anette says, hand still held out firmly. "I'll fucking pay if you want me to." She chuckles softly and shakes her head gently. "You don't get to decide what I do or don't do. Especially not when you look like a supermodel from the 90's yourself. So just hand. A fucking. Pill. Over." Akihiro is still mostly firm, but he falters some. "I don't want your money. You know if it was /anything/ else you wanted, I'd give it to you without another thought. But not this." He shakes his head slightly, reaching up to tug his shirt off and show off his own marks dotting his arm. "Look at this. Look at /me/." He regains his confidence, "So claw my eyes out and leave, because I won't be hurting you any more." "Anything else? What would I possibly want from you?" Anette snaps angrily again, crossing her arms over her chest to contain the rage exploding from her. She watches him as he removes his shirt, eyes lingering briefly on the scars before flitting over his entire form. "Well then, you don't need to worry. I'm hurting myself. It's all I'm good at, right? Hurting myself and everyone else. The difference between you and me is you care." Suddenly she lunges towards him, taloned hand reaching for his left pocket holding the pill bottle. Akihiro might be in pain, but he's still fast. His left hand darts down to cover the bottle in his pocket and he turns to meet Anette, "This shit is poison!" he nearly screams, "For fucks sake, can't you see that I don't want you to end up like this?" Anette's hand reaches for Akihiro's and her talons dig into his skin. "I /want/ poison! Can't you see I don't care!?" she yells back, pulling her hand and his up and away from his pocket. Akihiro doesn't seem to care about the pain, ripping his hand down and losing a chunk of meat from the back of his hand. Blood pours down over his jeans, showing no sign of slowing. "I do! I do care!" now he's screaming too. "If you're gonna do this shit you better fucking kill me first." He lowers his voice once again with some effort, pain clearly on his face, "Because seeing you on coke hurt but seeing you on this should would kill me." Anette ignores the scent of blood, keeping her focus on Akihiro for a few minutes before she glances down to his hand and the blood gushing from it. "What have I told you about caring?" she says, quieter now as she quickly retracts her hand and takes a few steps back. "So...what? You get to just keep popping rat poison but god forbid anyone else does? You don't get to do that. I'll make a deal with you. If you think you can keep from it, then I won't ask you again. But as long as you use it, I use it." "Seeing you not on this is worth all the pain in the world." Akihiro says, reaching over to apply pressure to the back of his hand. "I wish you'd take the chance to get clean too. I know you don't want to see me, but I have weed too. I can give you some to help with withdrawls." He seems a little optimistic when he suggests this, like she'll actually take his help. "I never said I'd get clean. Just that I wouldn't use heat," Anette says, stepping closer and holding her hand out to his, this time in a much more caring fashion, taking his wounded hand in hers if he'd allow it. "What do I need to do to get you to stop caring?" she asks softly. "And who the hell do you think you are that you get to do this to yourself and then get upset when someone else wants the same?" "I can't do coke like you." Akihiro informs Anette quietly, not stopping her from looking at his hand, but placing his right hand over the pocket instead. "This is it. The only thing I could do to try and stop caring. Guess drugs don't solve your problems after all, just add new ones." "If you really care about me, then be my dealer. If you have it, you must be getting it from the city. If it's in the city, someone knows where to get it. If you sell it to me, you know what it is, if it's tainted, how strong it is. More importantly...I can trust you." Anette releases his hand. "Either I get it from you or someone else." "I made that mistake once." Akihiro sounds regretful. "I helped put you in this situation, and that shit haunts me every day." He brings his hands up, blood and all, to rest his face in his palms. "And you're asking me to do it again. I love you Anette.. But I don't know if I can supply you with dope." "You didn't do this to me. I did this to me. It's what I do, I destroy everything. Anytime things are good, I panic and destroy it. I pushed you away. I pushed Killian away. Even when I try to hold on, I fail." Her voice cracks the more she speaks, emotions bubbling to the surface. She looks down at Akihiro's hand, as if noticing its state for the first time before suddenly turning away, wrapping her arms about her chest. "Oh god, what am I doing?" she says, eyes clenched shut as tears burn through them. Akihiro raises his good hand as if to reach out and touch Anette, but pauses, lowering it instead. "Anette.." He exhales slowly, "Look at us. It isn't just you, I pushed you away with my distrust and then vanishing." It's another slow moment before he steps forward so he's behind her, "But we can fix this. We can get clean and put all this negativity behind us." Anette merely shakes her head, taking a few shaky breaths before speaking again, her back still to him, her wings flattened tightly. "I can't. I've tried so, so many times. I thought I could quite and I can't. I thought I could control it and I can't." "We can do it." Akihiro seems sure of that. "I'll put down the heat, and I'll help you the best I can." There's a slight pause, "As long as you can make sure I don't put my claws through my eyes." Anette merely shakes her head. "No, I can't. I just...I can't. Please...get clean. I don't want to see you like that," she says, glancing behind her momentarily towards his still bleeding hand. "I promise I'll leave you alone. Just stop worrying about me. Stop thinking about me." She then begins walking away, her arms crossed about her chest and eyes focused on the ground before her. "No." Akihiro says, trying to catch up and put his fine hand on Anette's shoulder. "You can. You really can. It fucking sucks, but you can do it." Anette quickly turns around, revealing the tears pouring down her face as she shrugs Akihiro's hand off her shoulder. "Leave before I hurt you again," she says, though a somber tone in her voice suggests she actually doesn't want to hurt him. "Every time I try, I fail and I end up worse. Just...let me destroy my life in peace. And try not to get hit by the shrapnel." "You know I don't care if you hurt me." Akihiro says, lowering his hand. "You not getting clean would hurt me worse than anything you could do right now." He looks pretty damn serious about that, "So if you won't try to get clean, you might as well drag me down to the waterfront and drown me." "Then maybe we'll be even," Anette says, before lowering her head again. "I'm not getting clean. I can't get clean. Trust me, it's a lot easier to just stop caring. If you want to jump into the water, be my guest." She turns again and makes her way to leave. "I think you'll win that way." Akihiro retorts. He doesn't give chase this time, instead he plops onto his ass, burying his face into his palms. "This is all your fucking fault." he hisses at himself, knuckles slamming repeatedly into the side of his head.