InsaneJournal

Who: Faye and Lina
When: Before the freeze
Where: At Always
What: A reunion between old friends.
Rating/Warning: Low rating, although there's some foul language and multiple references to Faye's honorable rack
Status: Complete



This place was becoming a ghost town to her.

Already she’d realized some faces, recognized only several years in the past, were in the same state. In the same general area. If she had any superstitious belief in her, Lina would chalk it all up to fate. But with her always being a skeptic, she chalked it to probability and that her luck - if she ever had any - sucked, or at the very least, proved to be very interesting.

So it was time for a drink.

Again.

One of the first things she ever found out about a place she’s temporarily settled in was the food. The food and drinks. Those were too very important things. Because one, she had to eat. And two, she was often thirsty.

“I’ll start off with a beer,” she said as she sat down at the bar, shrugging off her little cardigan. She didn’t even glance up at the person working behind it and looked over the menu. “Uh, I’ll take a miller light for now. You got cheese fries?”

“Lina, Lina, Lina, still always thinking of your stomach I see. But you’re out of luck in this bar” Faye smiled as she set the beer down on the counter with a glass. “What in the hell are you doing here girl?” she asked smiling. If there was anybody she wasn’t expecting to end up sitting at her bar Lina would have been on the list. She hadn’t seen her for a long time and while they hadn’t started off as friends that was definitely how they had parted.

Lina jolted in her seat a little.

She knew that voice.

“Holy hell,” she breathed in surprised and then the cheese fries were suddenly forgotten. For now. A grin widened her face as nostalgia hit her full force. “You bitch. Seriously? Working those puppies for some tips I see.” She motioned playfully to her gift of boobage and gratefully took the beer.

Faye cackled as the other girl realised who it was, she lent forward on the bar, giving Lina an even better eyeful, “Ha, these puppies are working wonders for me. I manage this place” she told her with a wide smile. Oh yes, Faye Valentine not only had an actual job but she was ruling the roost too.

Lina leaned back drastically from the boob exposure and made a face. Not like she had anything against boobs, but she did have resentment to people with bigger boobs than her. “Good god,” she said, then took a fast gulp of her beer. “Whatever happened to working those things on men for credit cards? You do realize I had first dibs on that loser, right?”

Yes, this place was a ghost town to her. Nothing but faces of people she thought she’d never see again. Faye was, strangely enough, one of the preferred faces. As long as she didn’t kill Lina with her cleavage.

Faye laughed, she always found amusement in Lina’s reaction to her chest. Moving herself back a little she offered her friend a smile, “Yes dear of course you did, but I had the bigger distractions” she winked. “Besides they only get used on one guy now” she admitted. Yes Faye had a job and a boyfriend. She was coming close to being normal, god help her.

“Really, now? Miss Valentine’s got a ball and chain?” Well, good for her! That means there were more fool for her to pick at when she was getting low on funds. “Got a little mini-you running around now, by any chance?” Lina raised her glass up as a toast before finishing her drink.

“She has indeed and a pretty damn great one at that” Faye said smiling, Lina could have her pick and Faye could even help pick out the easy rich guys who came through the town. “Oh hell no, that’s a line I don’t plan on ever crossing”

“You say that now,” Lina said, eyebrow rising with that same shit-eating grin. “Good for you, though. Looks like one of us settled into a sense of normalcy. I’ll buy us shots in celebration.” She only drank one beer today. A shot or two wouldn’t be terrible, would it? “Then you can tell me what the hell is in Orange County’s water, because I’m pretty sure the people here are delusional.”

“I’ll say that forever. Merle and I are not the parenting type” Faye said, “No need this is all on me. What’s the point in owning a bar if you can’t treat friends to a round or four” she winked. Preparing a tray of shots and gesturing to a sofa in the corner of the bar, “Let’s go sit” she suggested before laughing, “Ah yes, don’t worry it all gets stranger I promise”

Free liquor? Even better. Lina beamed and practically bounced over to the sofa, throwing herself on it like a child on a trampoline. “Stranger, huh? Guess it’s not boring,” she admitted with a shrug and crossed her legs. “I remember passing through here once or twice but never bothered to settle for awhile. Suddenly the feeling bit me. What’s the gossip around here? Anything I should avoid? AnyONE I should avoid?”

Faye was very much about free booze for her friends. It was a perk to knowing her. Laughing Faye sat down too after leaving the bar in the capable hands of her staff. “Never boring, you won’t believe half the stuff that happens here” Faye thought for a moment, “Well you can try to avoid things happening but they usually do so just go with it. As for people there are a load of goody two shoes ‘superhero’ types, you might wanna avoid those. They aren’t a concern just somewhat irritating” she smiled.

“Oh, the love-and-justice kind of people,” Lina said with a bit of distaste. Not like she was exactly an immoral person. She believed in doing good things, or in her case, doing better things with life, but anything preachy got on her nerves. And after everything she’s done, she was still on the government’ shitlist. She grabbed a shot and threw her head back to down it. The liquor burned down her throat - a sensation she’d been welcoming for awhile now - and wiped her mouth after she was done. “There’s probably something in the water. I’ve heard some weird things but I don’t take it seriously. So, when are you gonna introduce me to the pile of testosterone that put a ring on your finger, huh? And does he have an attractive, insanely rich brother?”

Neither of them were immoral, they’d done what they needed to in order to survive and Faye didn’t see anything wrong with that. They found what they were good at and used it. They were rather resourceful actually. “Well there are a few things to take seriously, you’ll start having strange dreams soon. Really vivid lifelike dreams. And they can be about anything, basically it’s like you’ve lived a whole other life” she explained. “There is no ring on my finger” she protested though there might as well have been, “And yes he has a brother but they haven’t spoken in a while and he’s not insanely rich either”

An eyebrow rose at the mention of dreams. She’s had dreams before, sure, but nothing to what Faye had been describing. Her parents would always enforce the idea that all dreams had meaning, and she’d been the one that always said, ‘That’s bullshit. Dreams are just dreams.’ “I’ll keep that in mind, I guess. I’ll call you if I wake up from a big ol’ nightmare, kay?” Lina winked playfully and helped herself to another drink. “Well, damn. Looks like I need to still work hard in accomplishing my dream as a gold digger.”

She shifted in the couch and raised her glass. “A toast, to your tits leaving the field of thievery and to me taking over your slack!”

“You may mock now but depending on what your dreams are like you may well be doing just that” Faye warned before grinning at her friend. “Well I’ll be sure to keep an eye out for any handsome rich dudes who come in here” she promised.

Faye raised her own glass with a bright laugh, “I’ll drink to that” she replied happily.