KC (doingmything) wrote in low_tide, @ 2009-12-31 23:23:00 |
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Current mood: | restless |
Entry tags: | jenny lowe, kris michaels, npc, whistler |
(Un)Beautiful Morning
Rationally Kris knew that getting drunk or as close to drunk as she could first thing in the morning was a really bad idea, but she was kind of feeling another bad idea, especially as last night had been completely unreal and she still wasn’t sure what to make of it.
She’d even called in sick - the first time in God only knew how many years. Kris didn’t think she could face Leon or the people at the station, not after what she’d done last night. All in the name of good - she knew that - didn’t make it any easier to live with.
Whistler’s card was sat on the counter beside the bottle that was rapidly dwindling with every gulp she took from it, Kris hadn’t even bothered with a glass.
Simon had noticed and hadn’t even tried to say anything as Kris had her ‘say anything and I’ll kill you with my bare hands’ look on and he knew better than to try anything right now.
He did knock on Jenny’s bedroom door, figuring he should at the very least give her a heads up before she awoke to find the foul beast in the kitchen.
Jenny was awake, just about, when Simon knocked on her door and she approached it, sweatpants and oversized t-shirt dwarfing her slender frame.
“Mm?” she pulled open the door and raked her fingers through her hair. She’d not slept great since the incident with John Doe, and thankfully had managed to get some time off work. She hadn’t told anyone else about it yet except in a tearful phone call to her mother where she was reminded, once again, that she couldn’t save everyone and maybe she was in the wrong profession if she was going to get upset like this every time someone died.
She blinked and refocused her gaze on the person that had dared to knock on her door. “Si? Hey, shouldn’t you be on the way to work already?”
Simon glanced over his shoulder and worried that Kris' freakish bat-like hearing might catch them talking about her, but then figured he was just being paranoid. He hadn't had his coffee this morning and who was to blame for that?
"Uh, yeah." He nodded his head and then cleared his throat, leaning in close enough so he could actually whisper. "Just thought I should warn you that Kris? Is in the kitchen trying to get very drunk by the looks of things."
Jenny’s eyebrow lifted. The look on her face could most clearly described as ‘What the fuck’. “It’s...” her eyes darted to the clock and she groaned, “eight thirty in the morning.” It was eight thirty and she was awake on a day that she had off. There was something wrong with the universe.
“There’s no way Kris is getting drunk. Did you wake up properly yet?” It was an affliction that cursed them all at one time or another, still being half asleep and seeing things carrying over from the dream realm into the real one.
Simon simply rolled his eyes and took a hold of Jenny's arm, pulling her in the direction of the kitchen.
"Just take one look in there and tell me what you see. I'm not half asleep here."
“Sure you’re not,” Jenny drawled as she was all but hauled towards the kitchen to be greeted by the sight of Kris, a bottle of whiskey and a distinct air that the psychic couldn’t ignore.
It caused her to lift two fingers to her temple and press down, hard.
“Uh...” She backed up, pulling Simon with her (wasn’t hard since he still had hold of her arm). “Kris is drinking whiskey in the kitchen.”
"Duh," Simon responded. He folded his arms across his chest. "I dunno what the deal is, I'm pretty sure she didn't come until really late last night as well. Plus? It looks like she's gone a couple rounds with Rocky."
Jenny's brow furrowed in concern. "Alright, I'll- I'll talk to her. See what's going on. Thanks for letting me know. You gonna swing back and lunch or d'you want me to call?" she asked, unconsciously mimicking Simon's folded-arm position.
Simon glanced over his shoulder in the direction of the kitchen and worried his lower lip with his teeth. "I can swing back. Can't hurt, right?" And then it struck him that Jenny had just told him she was at home today. "Wait, don't you have to work?"
Jenny bit her lower lip and looked down briefly before she shook her head. Her shoulders lifted protectively. “Uh... no, not today. I got a day off... Working Christmas Day and all...” She looked at the kitchen and then pushed the stirring emotions about John Doe aside. “Don’t worry about Kris, I’ll take good care of her.”
Simon nodded his head and gave Jenny a smile. "Cool, I guess I'll leave her to your very capable hands. I would talk to her but I live in fear of having my balls cut off in my sleep." With that delightful image he grinned and turned on his heel, disappearing in the direction of the door.
Jenny rolled her eyes and, once the front door had closed behind Simon, headed into the kitchen, the proverbial lions’ den.
“Kris?” she started, almost hesitantly. “Sweetie, are you okay?”
She approached the table and perched on the edge of it, looking at the bottle and how it was really rather empty considering it wasn’t even 9am yet. Something told her that Kris might not have actually slept, and her hands were a mess. What the hell had she been doing?
Kris was helping herself to another liberal swallow of alcohol as Jenny walked into the kitchen and she seemed unaware of Jenny's presence until her friend was perched on the edge of table.
"Pass?" She muttered as she finally lifted her head and took a look at Jenny, frowning a moment later. "You look like you've had a pretty rough night. Drink?"
"No pass," Jenny said before she nodded, barely hesitating. "And usually I don't drink before ten but hey, I'll make an exception this once." Really, she never drank, but it wasn't such a big deal, if it was going to help Kris.
She grabbed a glass and returned to her perch. "Less than half please, whiskey's a little too much for lil' ol' me." She settled herself in for the long haul. "So, what happened?"
Kris lifted the bottle and filled the glass to just less than half before she rummaged out a pack of smokes, knocking a cigarette out into the palm of her hand.
"Don't think you'd believe me even if I told you." It sounded pretty fucking crazy and Kris wasn't sure she was ready for her roommate and friend to look at her like a crazy person.
Jenny rolled her eyes. "Try me. I've heard some pretty crazy things in my day and I'm positive nothing you've got to tell me is any more insane than anything that I've heard in the past." And wasn't that the truth. Jenny did spend some time in an asylum after all.
She tipped her head, "Come on, hon, what's up?"
Kris fell silent for a moment as she sat and contemplated what was left of the whiskey.
"How much do you know about the supernatural?" She finally asked after what felt like an eternity of quiet.
Jenny's eyebrow lifted. The supernatural? What in the hell had happened to Kris? Her stomach jumped a little, worried for a brief second that the conversation was going to take an unpleasant turn before she realised that yes, yes it was going to take a rather nasty turn and she just had to deal with it. This was Kris, after all.
"The supernatural?" she asked, considering playing dumb for a minute before she lifted her shoulder and finally took a sip of her whiskey. "I- uh... more than you might think, actually... why?"
Kris glanced up when Jenny admitted to knowing a lot more than she was letting on before she sat back, sliding a cigarette between her lips. "Just..." She shook her head and lit the tip, tossing her lighter back onto the table.
"I've had a pretty weird fucking night." She exhaled smoke away from Jenny and then hunched forward, reaching long fingers for the nearby ashtray. "First my perp bites me and then I run into this guy in a bar who tells me that I'm special and I have this destiny to fight all the dark things in the world. I'm still not entirely sure if I'm having a mental breakdown or not."
Babbling, yes, you could say that.
"Then the same perp I put into jail I break out of jail and proceed to deal with the vampire he apparently is. Vampires, can you believe that? Sounds like a bad horror movie."
"A vampire bit you?" Jenny asked, apparently less phased by that than the fact that Kris had been bitten. Obviously there was no risk of her turning: she hadn't been killed so there would have been no drinking of the vampire's blood and all that.
"This guy in a bar told you you were special?" she asked, looking a little surprised before she blew out a breath. "What did he say? I mean, about you? Vampires are... well, like super strong."
A voice in the back of her head reminded her of something she was told about something called a Slayer, but that... Probably not right. "Did you kill it?"
Kris lifted her gaze to Jenny. "You don't seem that bothered by the fact I just told you that I got attacked and bitten by a vampire. Just how much do you know about the supernatural?"
She took another calming drag of her cigarette and wet her lower lip, ignoring the stinging pain of an annoying cut. "Kill it? That's one way of putting it. Makeshift stake right through its chest and the next thing I know? It's turned into a flame grilled shish kebab underneath me."
Kris was pretty sure she still had remnants of its... ash on her clothes.
"I- uh- I know quite a bit. You can quiz me all you want after you've told me your story," Jenny offered honestly. She took another sip of her whiskey.
She nodded, "Stake through the heart or beheading, the best - only - way to kill vampires. 'Cept for sunlight." She gave a small smile. "You did the right thing, they're- nasty bastards." Jenny didn't swear often, but vampires warranted swearing.
"This guy just took you out to kill a vampire? Who the hell was he?"
Kris was somewhat taken aback by her roommate's apparent knowledge and experience with the big nasties of the supernatural world.
"His name is Whistler, apparently he helps guide Slayers." She paused and waved a hand. "That's what I am, apparently. A slayer."
She flicked ash aside and took a moment to observe her hand, which looked ugly now, but would look better within a day or so. "I got his card and everything."
"Whistler?" Jenny repeated, filing the name away. Not that she was protective or anything... If the guy could pin Kris as a Slayer just by looking at her then maybe there was something to the guy, but she couldn't be sure. She didn't want Kris getting hurt and far as she knew Slayers didn't have the greatest of life expectancies.
She nodded, "That would certainly explain your freakish strength and all the broken doors. I was wondering..." With a small smile, Jenny leaned forward and kissed Kris' forehead. "Well, the powers that be couldn't have picked a better person to protect the world from evil." She hesitated before asking, "Could I have a look at his card?"
Kris' lips quirked a little in the corner and she sat back, rummaging out the card she'd curled her fingers around earlier in the evening.
She eyed the bottle as Jenny complimented her, wondering if she was really the right person for the job considering how she was coping with this revelation.
"Here," she said as she offered the card to Jenny and there may have been a little bit of blood on the corner.
"Thanks," Jenny took the card and had a read of it, just flipping it between her fingers and putting the number into her mind, or trying to anyway. She chewed her lower lip. "So, you're a Slayer, huh?"
After a moment, Jenny looked at Kris again and gave her a small smile, taking another sip of her whiskey. God, it burned. "I don't blame you for having a drink." She hesitated before she added, as if it was going to make Kris feel better, "If I'd been able to have this reaction when I was six, I would have done."
"Apparently," Kris muttered as her fingers disappeared into the long lengths of her hair, curling briefly until she could feel the tips of her nails. "Guess that explains why everybody thought I was on performance enhancing drugs when I was trying to get into the police force."
A moment ticked by before Kris realised what had been said and she lifted her gaze to rest very firmly on Jenny. "What happened when you were six?"
"It does, but now you know and that's what counts. You've got... you've got something important to do now you know? But no one can make you do it if you don't want to." Jenny added a moment later, "Long as you haven't been called and all that. Which... you haven't, right?"
Jenny shifted uncomfortably and knocked back what was left of her whiskey, making her cough and her eyes water a little. "Sounds nuts, but hey, you just told me you killed a vampire, so you're not gonna hold it against me, right?" She'd never told anyone this. She told Kris as much a second later. "I've- uh- never told anyone this."
She rubbed a hand through her hair. "When I was six, I started... hearing things. Voices."
"What does being called involve exactly?" Because Kris? Had absolutely no idea. She added it to the growing list of questions she had for Whistler.
She sat back and took another slow pull of her cigarette, lifting an eyebrow. "You started hearing voices? Like Professor Xavier?"
"I'm not sure..." Jenny admitted. "I just read about Slayers once when I was-" trapped in an asylum, "-sick." She frowned, trying to remember, "I- no, sorry Kris, I can't remember. Wish I could."
Suddenly, Jenny felt like she needed another drink. "Yeah. Kinda like that, except I couldn't control it. Took me years to learn how. Still can't control it all too well now." Hence all her headaches. She wondered if Kris would come to that conclusion the way that Jenny had realised it was Kris breaking the door handles because there was no way Simon was strong enough, no matter what he said.
"So you're... psychic?" Oddly enough it didn't seem like such a leap considering she'd just killed a vampire.
She placed her cigarette in the ashtray and linked her hands together, resting her chin atop of them. "Is that why- I mean, is that why you get so many headaches?"
"I guess I am, yeah." Jenny admitted after a moment, relieved as all hell that Kris hadn't freaked out, though she knew all too well that the other woman wouldn't. "Never really told anyone that before."
She nodded. "It is, yeah," she gave a small smile. "Sucks, but what can you do? I'd love to have super strength and fast healing if I was to have any kind of superpower," she poured herself another half glass of whiskey before putting the bottle back down in front of Kris. "I don't listen in, by the way, I try not to. Sometimes I can't help it."
There was another moment before she added, "You're gonna be a great Slayer, you know. You're already an awesome cop. It'd be like policing the supernatural."
Kris helped herself to another drink and breathed out slowly, giving Jenny a reassuring smile. "Doesn't change anything, you know, you being psychic. You're still Jenny, right? That's all that matters."
She glanced at her cigarette and decided she was done with it, picking it up and turning it over until she was able to stub it out.
"Policing the supernatural, that's definitely one way of looking at it." She was relieved that she wouldn't have to hide this part of her life from at least one of her housemates.
"Just like it doesn't change anything for me, your being a Slayer. It's actually kinda cool. I mean, I knew you could kick ass anyway, but living with someone who's been picked by like, Fate, to kick ass."
Relief was something that Jenny felt quite strongly when Kris stubbed out the cigarette. As a doctor, she frowned quite a lot on the smoking thing, but hey, if Kris was a Slayer, maybe she had an immunity.
"Yes indeedy! You could be like Robocop, only not because you're not a robot... and you can't go to jail for killing vampires 'cause they don't leave a trace and all that. But... man, I- I'm sorry you found out like this. Woulda been nicer to have been eased into it."
"Fate," Kris repeated. "Not so sure I like the idea of not being in control, but..." She took another sip from the bottle and rested it back on the surface a second later. "Guess I just need to roll with the punches."
She gave a small smile and nodded. "Yeah, like a polite introduction to the world of the supernatural, but guess it's better I know. Explains a lot."
Kris wet her lower lip and looked up at Jenny. "Hey, you home today?"
"It does, and-" Jenny reached out, touched Kris' shoulder like that would help. She squeezed it gently and then moved her touch to Kris' hand, sharp eyes looking at the cuts in her hand, checking for infection. Not that it mattered, Kris had always been a fast healer.
She tilted her head and looked down at Kris. "Yeah, I am. Why?" She was glad that she was, she didn't want to leave Kris on her own today.
"Just wondering," Kris said. "Wasn't sure if you were or not. I've pulled a sickie."
She rose to her feet and blew out a breath. "You wanna watch some bad TV or movies? Feeling the need for distraction something fierce."
"Me too," Jenny confided before she got off the table, kissing the top of Kris' head and taking the bottle of whiskey away with her, putting the cap on and returning it to a cupboard.
She paused and reached up into another cupboard, pulling out a packet of microwave popcorn. "Sounds good, I'll stick the popcorn on."
Kris wrapped Jenny's waist with her arm and squeezed back gently, grateful for her understanding and support. It would be a lot easier dealing with this new discovery if somebody close to her knew what was going on and understood.
"I'll take a look at our DVD collection and see if I can't find something distraction-worthy, lots of action and maybe some cute guys."
"Sounds good to me," Jenny said quietly, covering Kris' forearm with her hand, squeezing gently. She was glad that she could be there for her friend, even if there wasn't much she could do for her.
She chewed her lower lip, briefly contemplating telling Kris about her own problem, the dead John Doe that was kind of haunting her before she decided against it. One problem at a time. "Cute guys are always good. And explosions. Lots of explosions."
Kris gave Jenny a small smile before she disappeared in the direction of the living room, wondering if they still had those Die Hard DVDs. Nothing like watching John McClane kicking ass and taking names whilst managing to keep himself alive.
Quite the positive thought to take forward into this new foray of hers.
"Get it going, I'll be through in a minute," Jenny called, sticking the popcorn in the microwave.
Things were gonna be fine, for her and for Kris. Definitely.