Who: Alyssa Hamilton & Lina Inverse What: Paying a visit to discuss Alyssa's complicated love life When: Last week sometime Where: Alyssa's house Rating/Warnings: Relatively low Status: Complete!
Lina’s parents had made sure she left with an abundance of things. Stuff from home to keep them connected, and the gesture was appreciated but the trunk on the ride home was packed. All sorts of things that’d last the trip, thankfully, and the winning prize were the several bottles of her father’s vodka. In the Land of Dreams they’d been involved in the wine business. It only made sense they did something with alcohol here, too. Something relevant to their heritage and with more of a kick.
Unfortunately, consuming anything with alcohol content was no longer in her cards for the several months to come. Maybe year, who knew, so the excess bottles made great gifts - and Alyssa could probably benefit from home-brewed raspberry infused vodka, after the news of her ended engagement.
Two bottles, then. The sorceress would live vicariously through her friends.
First couple knocks on the door were surprisingly meek. “Pssssst. Hey. Heeeeey. It’s me.”
Alyssa had inherited the four bedroom house from her mother, but she was thinking of selling it and buying a condo. She’d lived there with two different boyfriends and her mother, and it felt sometimes that the place was haunted. Sometimes she’d see her mother out of the corner of her eye, or Damian, or sometimes Peeta. It was enough to make Alyssa want to leave.
She’d known about Lina’s visit, so she’d actually made an effort to get dressed and brush her hair, even putting on her makeup like she normally would. Last time she’d gone through the process of dumping someone, she’d lost weight and moped about in sweats for a couple of months. She didn’t want to do that again. So when Alyssa answered the door it was in a cute sweater dress.
“Hello, you, come in. Are you allergic to cats?” Flower raised his head to see what the motion in the entryway was about, but otherwise looked nonplussed.
Oh, hey - her ginger friend looked better than she expected. That was a good thing. “Pfft, no,” she smiled, cocking her head at the presence of one feline furbaby. “I’ve got one of my own. A fat one who thinks she’s human.” And who also insisted in putting her face in human food when they weren’t looking, which probably attributed to Guess’ obesity. Ever tried disciplining one, though?
It was impossible, so Guess did whatever the hell she wanted.
Lina cooed cutely at Flower as a greeting - she probably wouldn’t try and pet her, cats were skittish dicks sometimes - and then raised the two bottles in her hands. “I’ve brought an offering, though? My family drinks way too much, and my dad likes to make his own hootch.” Raspberry gasoline, coming right up.
Flower was the sort of sassy fat cat that thought he was human as well, and as such, meowed in greeting to the new human. “Hmm, maybe your cat has met Flower before they were adopted.” Alyssa chuckled when Flower toddled over to see what they were doing, and Alyssa sighed. “Flower, baby, you can’t have booze.” She smiled and took the bottles from Lina. “I’ve never had homemade booze. You wouldn’t try to poison me, though.”
After putting the bottles aside, Alyssa pulled Lina into a hug. “Thank you for coming, truly. Do you want a glass? Ice or no?”
Lina made sure that hug was extra tight on her end. It was a shitty situation for anyone to be in, and anyone who knew would have their own opinions on it, unwanted or not. Matters of the heart were messy affairs. It wasn’t her love live to judge. “It’s Pete-tested, Pete-approved, trust me. No poison,” she gave a chortle. “Buuuuut I’m good. I need to cut back on the drinking anyway, and I’ve got plenty back home.” Not a direct lie; she preferred to gloss over the truth though.
Copper hair was twisted into a messy side bun, loose wisps framing her face - some got in the way of her devil eyes, and she pushed them back. “Honestly, I was expecting you to look like shit with mascara running down your face, but this is good.” A squinty stare. “You look good. Doesn’t mean you’re necessarily feeling good, so...how’s it been? Since…?”
Alyssa raised an eyebrow at the whole Lina isn’t drinking thing, but shrugged and poured herself a tumbler full of vodka as she didn’t own any shot glasses. “I doubt it would kill me. Extra hearty because of the angelic bloodline and all,” Alyssa shrugged. Being a Rooder had its advantages.
Sitting on the kitchen counter, Alyssa swung her legs as she took a sip. “That is good, and I normally don’t like flavoured vodkas. It’s been about a week or so. I made sure to make myself look decent. Last time I dumped someone and felt like shit about it was about two years ago, and I lost ten pounds and looked like hell.” Alyssa was already on the slender side, making the weight loss that much more visible. “So I set an alarm on my phone to make myself eat, and I’m trying to just make myself feel as normal as possible. It’s working. Ish.”
“My alcohol tolerance is not what it used to be,” she sighed, dramatics in full effect, including the pitifully envious look at Alyssa’s swig. Flavored alcohol wasn’t her thing either, and she had cut down on drinking considerably - it was usually rage-fueled and led extreme public destruction - but now it was just one of those things she couldn’t have, even if she wanted it. Oh, well. Probably for the best. Development as a person, or what the fuck ever.
Lina opted to lean against the counter, arms crossed. “At least you know you need to take care of yourself, yeah? It’s a thing people forget about during moments of emotional distress. People have been leaving you alone?”
“I learned from the last time I went through this,” Alyssa smiled. “Besides, I have a cat to take care of now. Even if I wanted to pass out, he’d eat me.” She looked down at Flower, who seemed as likely to eat someone as a militant vegan, but hey.
About people leaving her alone, Alyssa shrugged. “For the most part. A girl who fancies Peeta yelled at me online, but that’s her right, and I expected it.”
Awww, always live for the furbabies. Lina cooed again, this time kneeling down to let Flower take a whiff of her hand. She had enough experience with Guess to know that these felines were skittish creatures; some either reveled in being touched by another human or randomly lost their shit if someone they didn’t know made an attempt to bestow affection. And she wasn’t a fan of cat scratches. Or bites, those things swelled up like no one’s business.
“Well, I gotta admit, you’ve got a tough set of ovaries there for letting them know the way you did,” she sighed, sparing a glance upward at Alyssa’s countertop seat. Complicated romantic affairs wasn’t something Lina personally liked dealing with. She’d been involved in a love triangle in the dreams - it wasn’t a catty thing, she and Sylphiel respected each other, but she just didn’t do drama of that kind, period. Sometimes it was inevitable and she’d honestly prefer to swallow glass. “You won’t feel like shit forever, though. That’s one thing to look forward to. So what’s on the agenda now, with all that? Is Logan coming around?”
Flower purred, then flopped over for belly rubs. He was a lazy dumpling of a cat, and fine with anything that humans gave them. Alyssa smiled down at them from where she was perched and took another swig of vodka.
“I figured it would be more simple to tell people in one go than go around individually. Like ripping off a plaster.” She chuckled and shrugged. “Like I said, I learned from the last time I did this.” As for Logan, Alyssa blushed and bit her lower lip. “I went and got drunk with him right after I told everyone. He’s ... complicated. He fancies me, but he doesn’t think he’s good for me, so he won’t let himself date me. Or some other allegedly noble idiocy.”
The last time she did this, geez. Lina’s smile was sympathetic before Flower successfully distracted her by being a ham. He’d get all the pets, then Guess would easily pick up on the scent of betrayal. “Drunk times with the guy you’re in love with,” she whistled lowly. That was a recipe for something interesting to happen - usually naked humping times. Or not, with how skittish the dude was. “What are you gonna do then, knowing that? Try to convince him otherwise or kick his butt to the curb in the romance department?”
Personally, she learned it was best to lose the baggage that was too stupid to want something more. It’d worked favorably for her (now she had Pete, and a baby on the way, what the fuck), but different things worked best for different people. And every situation had its own special complications.
“I’ll give him a couple of months, then work on getting over him. To do that, I won’t date anyone. I’ve learned that lesson,” Alyssa winced. “Just, Logan’s infuriating. He’s fine with the snuggling and the sex, and even the emotional support, but he’s paranoid that everyone he loves will leave. He’s had bad luck, I get it, but argh.”
“Snuggling, sex, emotional support…” Lina’s head cocked to the side. “Hate to break it to you, but that sounds exactly like a relationship.” And relationships were risks, but when you loved someone it was worth it and all that sappy nonsense. “It sounds like he’s got his own baggage to work through, nothing to do with you. I just hope for his sake he pulls his head out of his ass too.”
Petting Flower came to a halt, and she stood just to get comfortable next to Alyssa too - all hoisted up on the counter, where both of them could let their feet dangle. “But not dating someone while all that’s being sorted out is a good idea,” she smirked, nudging elbows. “It’ll all fall into place though, eventually. Things have a way of working themselves out.”
“I’m still young and all that, it’ll sort itself out. Just, ugh. I was seventeen when I met him, I’m twenty now, you’d think we’d have at least made progress,” Alyssa smiled. “How’s your bloke, eh? The foxy one from back home?” Pete was pretty, and Alyssa knew that Lina was aware.
“Foxy, huh?” Garnet eyes rolled, but she smiled nonetheless. Yeah, he was pretty, especially with his expensive-as-fuck insistence when it came to practically owning the entire Armani suit line. How she snatched him up, she didn’t really know - it all sort of just happened, pieces fell into place, and it worked. Even if he was often exasperated and more low key and she was an excitable accident-prone spazz. “He’s good, though. Better now that he got to be around my parents under more preferable circumstances. Though I didn’t come here to discuss my love life.”
No complains in that department ever, anyway, and Lina knocked her ankle into Alyssa’s. “Just wanted to make sure you weren’t withering away and had a gross case of make up raccoon eyes. You’ll have to keep me updated with that whole Logan-thing, and I’ll knock some sense into you in case you start getting doe-eyed for some idiot.”
“Mmm, he’s downright pretty,” Alyssa grinned. She could tell Lina was aware of it, and it was adorable how they were grumpy old married people around each other, despite not being married or old. “Oh, he met your parents?” But she swung her ankle back at Lina, smiling at the affectionate gesture.
“I do not go doe-eyed. Usually my tell is hair flipping.” Alyssa poured herself another glass of vodka. “I wish I could wake up forty and be over this entire adolescent angst thing. But go, wrestle your man under a duvet and remind him that this is a much better place to raise children than London. They might actually see some sun sometime, yeah?” Alyssa winked as she teased. Lina didn’t seem the type to have kids, and if she and Pete had kids, Alyssa would place bets they’d be looking for Dunhills in utero.
Hair flips, good to know. Lina would happily give a whack if it was in the presence of somewhat downright pretty, no worries, that’s what friends were for. Friendly fire. “He’s met them before, just…” Hand motions to kind of segue into that depressing topic. “When I was away.” Dead. Maybe not dead in the corpse-like way, but she sure as hell wasn’t alive either - it was some odd limbo in between, whatever stated of being that was when someone was a sacrifice for a primordial deity.
Smile turned smirk, though, at the mention of children. It wasn’t anything they were willing to announce just yet (best for some time to pass to get out of the ‘risky’ territory), and she and Pete both told other souls about the entire thing. Neal, and his old friend - she knew he needed someone to talk to, because while she had all sorts of faith when it came to him, it was nice to hear it from someone else too. Assurance from someone who wasn’t as biased as she’d be. Parenthood was scary (and it’s not like she even knew how to change diapers, jesus christ), but it’d...come to them. Somehow.
“But thaaat’s a suggestion I’ll take to heart, promise,” she giggled, referencing the ‘wrestling under duvets’ part. Hopping off the counter, she reached over to give Alyssa’s arm a squeeze. “And don’t. Enjoy the time you have before you’re forty - you’ll figure the whole adolescent angst thing. All part of the ‘growing up’ experience. You’ll be better for it.”
“I’m sure I will, but I won’t enjoy it,” Alyssa smiled. She hopped down and gave Lina the tiniest of squeezes, figuring the other girl wasn’t a super huge huggy type.
“And that’s why I brought you the vodka,” she winked. Lina was huggy when the situation called for it, and this one did, she thought - so she gave Alyssa a hug, and made sure to give Flower a proper pet as a departure. Shitty situations didn’t last forever, and she believed things would fall into place - eventually.