Re: Ruby and Clint
“Shit,” Ruby muttered under her breath. That was not the answer she was hoping for. It would be so much easier to tell him to go talk to them, that they could make everything better. Things with Clint used to be so easy. Now it felt like they were anything but that. “I went to see some. Witches. They did a ritual that is supposed to protect me. Keep it from happening again,” she said, pausing to take a sip of beer. She knew she might sound crazy, but he didn’t have to listen to her. “I don’t know if it worked, but I haven’t seen him since. And I’m sleeping again.” She still worried when she went to bed, and she still had nightmares, but it was a vast improvement over trying not to sleep at all. Sometimes she thought it would be easier if she had someone to sleep with, but she knew that was just an illusion. If the Dark Man came for her in her sleep, no one could protect her. They could only try to wake her if she started screaming. Ruby wondered if Clint had someone to sleep with and then immediately shut that train of thought down. It was the last thing she wanted to know.
Nobody Clint knew was openly a witch -- most of the people he knew didn’t even believe that was a real thing. At least as far as Clint was aware. Which, granted, might not be very far. He was finding that he’d been a blind idiot about a lot of things, for his entire life. Ruby did sound kind of crazy, but that didn’t mean Clint could discount what she was saying. “That’s good, right?” he said, trying not to sound too eager. He lifted his beer for another sip, more out of nerves than any real desire to drink it. He was just going through the motions at this party, but Ruby was giving him a little spark of hope he hadn’t had before. “I’m only really sleeping when I like, pass out,” he admitted with a soft snort. “Can you -- can you maybe hook me up with them? Or at least tell me who they are?”
“Yeah, it’s good,” Ruby said, her lips finally quirking up a bit with a hint of a smile. She still had a lot on her plate—nightmares and heartbreak and college— but life felt manageable again. Lack of sleep had made everything seem dire, her brain too fuzzy to even think clearly. If there’d been a real crisis, she’d have probably fallen apart. She certainly wouldn’t have enjoyed a party on the beach, which made her mildly impressed at him being there. “I probably shouldn’t. I don’t think they publicize it. But they seem like good people. I don’t think they’d turn you away,” she said, biting her lip as she tried to come to a decision. As much as she wanted to, she wasn’t enough of a bitch to leave him hanging like that. “The O’Reillys live in the woods. I heard about them through a friend of a friend.”
Clint wasn’t exactly enjoying himself, so Ruby’s impression would’ve confused him if she’d voiced it. He’d just been so desperate for something normal -- and something that might tire him out enough to actually get to sleep -- a party had seemed like a good distraction. It spoke a lot to how tired he was that he hadn’t even thought about Ruby being there and how awkward that might be. He might not have come if he’d known, but now he was glad that he hadn’t. His heart sank a little as she waffled over how much to tell him, a deep fear bubbling in his stomach that this was just his life now, he would never sleep right again. The information Ruby actually gave wasn’t super helpful though ... the woods were vast around here, and he had no idea who the O’Reillys were. “O’Reillys, okay,” Clint murmured slowly, trying to process that. “Like ... where in the woods? Do I just -- do I just go and ask?” It sounded like a good way to get shot for trespassing to Clint. He knew Ruby didn’t owe him anything, especially not help, but his desperation was starting to show now.