Who: Ana Lucia and Tendo Choi When: September 7th, during the nightmare plot Where: Ana’s Apartment What: Ana’s drunk. Very drunk. She invites Tendo over to keep her company and awake. Rating/Warning: PG-13? Mostly for language and heavy drinking. Not sure if it’s heading towards a higher rating for anything else that might happen. Status: Incomplete, will finish in comments.
Ana Lucia was drunk. By her estimation, probably very drunk. It was hard to tell now after nearly polishing off the half bottle of tequila she had. And that was after having a few beers at her favorite bar first before taking the quick drive home. Somewhere along the line she'd had a coke and rum or two.
Now the keypad to her phone was a bit blurry and she couldn't quite get all the letters where she wanted them. Autocorrect helped. Mostly.
She was slumped on the floor of her apartment, leaning up against her microsuede couch, Sasha resting her chin on Ana's legs. Ana Lucia was so done with these nightmares. She couldn't tell if what she was dreaming was part of her alternate life or not, but figured probably not. Polar bears were impossible on a desert island, as were giant monsters in the dark of the jungle and man eating plants. That didn't make it any less scary, however.
Ana had resolved to drink her way into an oblivious sleep. Maybe if she was too drunk she wouldn't care what she dreamt, or even better, might not dream at all.
She'd decided having Tendo over would be fun. She might invite Mercy later, just to mess with Tendo's head; she and Mercy both looked very much alike, almost twins, despite not being related at all.
It had been far too long since these nightmares had started and it had taken a toll on Tendo. He was unkempt. His pompadour was not as straight as it was. His tie was slightly askew. He had missed a button of his shirt. He hadn't been seeing visions like most people he had spoken to online but the nightmares were intense. A horrible mixture of that one dream he had about his grandfather and new scenes he hadn't experienced yet. He just kept hearing the Cantonese words over and over. 忍. Endure this. His grandfather's final words. It was strange that it should mean so much to him. Before a month ago he hadn't spoken to his grandfather in years. After that dream he had driven all the way to San Francisco just to sit awkwardly with him and not be able to communicate. Maybe he should learn Cantonese. It was half his heritage after all and he knew Spanish.
Tendo had stopped by a small grocery store on the way and gotten a few bags of snacks ranging from gummy bears to debbie cakes to chips and salsa. Not forgetting the tequila, of course.
Despite the struggle to stay awake and the very real possibility that Ana might have already drank herself to sleep, Tendo trudged to the door and knocked with the alcohol bottle.
Ana had already called ahead down to the doorman to let Tendo in when he arrived. She wasn't sure if the guy had taken her seriously considering how drunk she probably sounded. Ana wasn't an alcoholic so her threshold wasn't as high as her dream counterpart was, apparently.
The knock on the door was jarring in the quiet apartment, and Ana started from her stupor, bumping the back of her head on the arm of the couch she was sitting up against. She had forgotten to put music on, her usual routine after having the dreams. Maybe because she hadn't actually dreamt yet she'd forgotten. It didn't matter, she thought as she struggled to her feet; Tendo was here and he'd keep her awake with his charm and wit. And tequila.
Ana Lucia cruised to the door, holding onto the couch, table, and wall whenever she thought things were starting to go sideways as she made her way over. Opening the door, a disheveled Tendo was revealed - snacks and alcohol in hand. Sasha started barking and rushed to the door to greet the stranger.
"Heyyou," Ana smiled, pink eyed and clearly sloshed. Sasha sniffed at Tendo's legs and the bottoms of the bags he held as Ana opened the door and then walked back into the apartment. "Come in. Make yerself at home."
"Wow. You -were not- joking." Tendo laughed as he walked in. "You are quite drunk." He looked down at the dog as Ana left the doorway to give him room to come in, bending down about half way to her level. "Hey you. You taking care of Ana for us? Here. Let me put these down so I can properly love you instantly." Tendo shot Ana a look to silently ask permission to put them on the counter but realized she wasn't looking and went anyway. With arms free, he squatted down to the dog's height and let her sniff his hand to gain her acceptance in her territory.
"So, I take it the nightmares have been bad for you?"
"Yeah. Too bad I'm not as much of an alcoholic as dream me." She turned around to see the bags on the counter and started unpacking them. "Can't hold m'liquor like her. Bitch. Crazy bitch." She sniffled and pawed at her tired face. Meanwhile, ever friendly, Sasha was all over Tendo, glad for some company that might actually play with her. She leaned up against his legs and looked up at him adoringly, long tail wagging, tongue hanging out. She barked once, then tried to lick his face. "She likes you." Ana said as she unscrewed the cap to the fresh Tequila. "Yeah, these weird nightmares just make the Island thing even worse. So tired of this crap." She opened a bag of chips and started munching hungrily, temporarily forgetting about the alcohol.
"Yeah. My dreams are pretty crazy too. I'm a ferry boat driver and suddenly this giant godzilla monster pops out of the ocean and starts destroying the city. So we're getting people on the boat to sail to safety and I remember my grandpa lives nearby. I mean, I don't even really know him that well. He only spoke Cantonese so we never understood each other. But I went back for him. Fucking monster. Spread this goo everywhere. I think it was its blood but it got on yeye. Turns out it was toxic. He died in my arms right when they nuked the whole damn city. And it's just that and the destroyed cities and losing friends who are in weird giant robots... I don't know. It's a clusterfuck of really awesome anime ripoff shit and devastating loss." Tendo rubbed his tired face took. "Hand me a bottle. I need to catch up with you."
Ana munched as she listened to Tendo's tale. She frowned and poured him a glass of tequila, gesturing at the empty seat at the counter. She poured the tequila into a short, wide juice glass, then went and got herself a glass and poured herself some. "I'm sorry. About your...yeye? Your grandpa." She'd heard the word here and there when they'd report to a call in Chinatown back during her NYPD days, but that'd been forever ago and she was hazy on the definition. She raised a glass in silent salute then drank. "I got monsters in my dreams too. Black shapeless smoke monster that tears people apart, things you can't quite catch before they snatch someone away, sharks." She sipped. "I think yours win on the fucked up factor tho." She watched as Sasha continued to cozy up to Tendo, rubbing up against his legs and whining. She smirked. "Back off, he's mine." She said teasingly. She tossed a tortilla chip and Sasha dove after it, eating it with such exaggerated fervor it made Ana laugh.
"Yeah, grandpa." Tendo said. "One of the few words I knew growing up. I bought a program to help me learn Cantonese though. Thought maybe this dream thing was a sign I should try and reconnect, you know?" He listened to her story and his eyes widened some. "Smoke monster sounds plenty fucked up to me. We can shoot nukes at Godzilla. Can't really kill smoke. That sounds awful."
He smirked as Ana threw the chip.
"Yours, huh? That the alcohol talking or are you just happy to see me?"