Who: Lina & Veronica What: A night out for little ladies for the sake of their sanity When: Recently Where: Beachfront Pub Rating/Warnings: Low Status: Complete!
It was important to take a new mother out of the house, whenever the chance was given. Childbirth changed a lot of things - the body, the hormones were still out of whack, the way life just was nothing like it was after a new life was introduced into the household, one that needed constant care that barely left the parents a wink of sleep. Lina had been lucky to miss out on the post-partum depression part of the experience. Like most things she was able to go with the flow and adjust, but -
Hell, it didn’t mean there weren’t times she wanted to bash her head in, or the times she just wanted to keep her boobs away from the newborn’s mouth (because ow, seriously), or times she didn’t cry from the lack of sleep. It was hard. A healing body, feeling trapped in the house sometimes, it was all part of the gig.
So she knew Veronica needed a lady’s night out. A night for herself to relax, drink a beer or two. They’d gone to the movies first for a bucket of popcorn drowning in butter, and then out to a beachfront pub with string lights above, live acoustic music, a zillion drinks on tap and comfortable seating to watch the laps of foamy waves.
They were even able to kick off shoes if they wanted to. Lina did. Those flip-flops were abandoned and she let her toes wiggle in the sand. Her hair was loosely tied in a ponytail, and she was dressed in frayed jean shorts and plaid shirt. “We haven’t gotten shot at, no demons jumped on the car - I think it’s a success.”
Getting out was still new to Veronica. She had started working again, but there was a lot of work she could do from home. Digging up info was half the job. Stake-outs and tailing were also part of it, but she was mostly taking jobs that didn’t require too much of that. And getting out just to enjoy herself? Well that had yet to occur. Until tonight.
There was no way she was going to shut off her phone during the movie, but she did keep it on silent. Refraining from checking it was tougher than she thought. Now that they were at the pub she kept her phone face up on the table just in case Logan texted.
“Must be because we aren’t in your van.” Granted Lina had sold that a long time ago, but that wasn’t the point. “No douchebags trying to hit on us either,” she quipped taking a sip of her beer. She was still breastfeeding, but she had pumped before going out. She could have a drink. “And,” she added glancing back down at her phone. “No SOS texts from Logan.” She probably shouldn’t jinx her luck though. This was her and Lina after all.
No worries, Lina understood the vigilance over the cellphone - she’d been the same when Amelia was a newborn and she wasn’t the one with her. Not that it changed much now, anyway, with how many people watched her daughter. From the grandparents to the aunts, the godparents, so forth.
“Does Logan send those texts a lot?” giggled the sorceress, beer in her hand. This place had an interesting concept, having a mixed beer menu - hers was a combination of a fruity ale called Framboise and Hoegaarden. It’s clever name? ‘The Red Hoe’ due to its deep, crimson color. It was fitting. “Did he get a taste of the legendary helicopter beer or what?”
So far no one had watched their son other than herself and Logan. Hell, Veronica hadn’t even let her dad watch him alone yet. And Keith Mars was one hell of a father. She just wasn’t ready.
“Occasionally. Mostly when it has to do with his diaper.” Which was honest. “Logan’s been great though.” For once Veronica wasn’t bashing her boyfriend, even though she did so in a loving way. “He’s determined not to be like his father.” Which Veronica was grateful for. Aaron Echolls was an abusive piece of shit. “I guess we have that in common.” Only it was her mom Veronica didn’t want to be like. But Lianne was nowhere near as bad as Aaron. “How long did it take you? To get used to the whole mom thing?”
“Pete’s the same way - he’s doing everything to not be like his parents,” she contributed. Although things with his dad had gotten considerably better. Harold lived in the states now, with Lina’s own parents housing him and taking care of him in his surly old age. It’d always be a process though. Three decades of an awful relationship doesn’t get fixed in a year. “But, hmmmm, well -”
By now she was clearly used to the whole ‘mom thing.’ Amelia was a year, walking on those little feet, and changing every single goddamn day. Lina wasn’t about to miss any of it. “First month was the toughest. She’s our first and in the end it’s not like we really knew what to do, y’know? There were classes and books but nothing prepares you for it like the actual experience. And nothing changes you like your own little shitter. Your body’s different, your life’s different, but you adjust as it all just eventually becomes the new normal.”
Veronica was definitely still in the adjusting period, even though it had been two months now. Hopefully by the time Liam was a year old she would be as well adjusted as Lina seemed to be. She hadn’t really thought about how much Lina’s life had changed since having Amelia.
All that aside though there was a word that definitely caught Veronica’s attention. “First?” she questioned with a raised brow. “Are you and Pete planning on having more?” One was more than enough for this tiny, blonde.
“I don’t know, maybe?” Lina shrugged. It wasn’t something she really worried about at the moment - obviously there were no plans to start for a second one, and they were both content enjoying Amelia’s childhood as the one and only for the moment. “I’m not saying no, not saying yes either, but I meant more of the fact that she’s our only, we had no idea of what to really do until she got here.”
They kept her alive, clean and fully fed. Harder than it looks, but the Wisdoms had given each other a congratulatory high-five for the success on her first birthday. “But, yeah, anyway, you just adjust your life around things. And make sure to give some time to yourself. It’s a necessity for both parents. Otherwise you go nuts.”
“Whatever you say,” Veronica just smirked. She had a feeling that eventually the Wisdoms might just pop out another one. But as for Veronica? Having another kid was the farthest thing from her mind. One was enough.
“Oh. Don’t worry, Logan hasn’t given up his surfing.” He got plenty of time to himself. At least more that Veronica got, but that was on her. She wasn’t ready to leave Liam alone too much. Even when her dad was more than willing to watch his grandson. “But enough about babies.” This was supposed to be her night off from after all. Even if she couldn’t stop thinking about the little guy.
Yes, enough about babies. They’d get their fill of them when they got back home. “Oh, did I tell you I had a dream buddy show up? A sane one, even if this one in question is as dumb as a brick. It’s Gourry. If you’ve ever heard me mention a mentally-challenged swordsman shadowing me around the dreams, it’s him - the one I almost destroyed the world for in that whole thing?”
That event translated into a whole cataclysm of a cold, dark storm that was sucking everything into the void. Lina bristled a little bit every time she recalled the incident. “He’s dreaming. It’s kinda nice having someone around who gets it even if he’s a moron.”
Insulting the man was the norm for her.
Sounded familiar. She was sure Lina had mentioned him once or twice especially when it came to the destroying the world part, but she hadn’t known anyone from Lina’s dreams showed up. “Welcome to the club,” Veronica quipped. As difficult as it was sharing dreams with Logan sometimes, arguing about what they did to each other, she couldn’t imagine going through this alone.
“Is it tough being ahead?” At least she assumed Lina was ahead of this Gourry guy. She had been dreaming for a long ass time, and if he was new his dreams probably just started. “It was difficult for me to… not tell Logan things.”
“Like you wouldn’t fucking believe, ugh,” admitted the redhead, combing her hair back with a frustrated hand. “Nothing phases him though, and I’ve asked him if he wanted me to let him know if anything major happened but he declined, so whenever he dreams about getting kidnapped by that psycho demonlord disguised as a child it’ll be a surprise.”
Gourry had at least gotten the hint that there was something between them in the dreams, but he wouldn’t be able to guess what would stem from it - how it all almost came crashing down over an ultimatum. “And hey, maybe he’ll just roll with it. But I’m just worried if anything will bleed over. He had a moment of getting possessed by demon armor and was pitted against us, and him and I went toe-to-toe without any restraints. He killed me in one version.”
Not in the one he was dreaming of at least. That’d been a little traumatizing when she dreamt it, even if nothing carried over.
“Oh trust me. I know.” Veronica had gone through that before. Minus the whole demonlord thing. “That’s all any of us can do.” Roll with it. What else were they supposed to do? Veronica couldn’t exactly hold dream mistakes against Logan. That wasn’t fair. As much as she wanted to sometimes.
But the whole bleed over thing was another issue.
“Uh, is there any way to stop this armor? Cause I prefer you alive.” She didn’t even want to think about that month that Lina had been dead. It was worse than when she lost Lily in the dreams. But it wasn’t like Veronica to get into those feelings, making a quip about it was how she dealt.
“You break it, but it’s a lot more complicated than that,” she sighed, and considering it’d been a literal demon in armor form - plus Gourry’s speed, and the Sword of Light making it untouchable, let’s just say it wouldn’t be the easiest thing. “Don’t worry about it, though. That’s my job, and I guess we’ll see how things go.”
Lina hoped they could skip that part but, eh. Can’t always have nice things. “Promise I won’t die, though, I’m the cutest cockroach you’ll have as a friend.”
Of course Veronica was going to worry. She didn’t want some evil armor out there that could potentially possess Lina’s friend and kill Lina. “Well as long as you promise,” Veronica replied sarcastically taking a sip of her drink before getting serious. “But you know you don’t have to take it on by yourself. I may be a mere mortals, but I can still help.” It’s what friends were for, although she would never say something that cliche.
“I’ve seen you with your fist and taser, I believe it,” giggled the sorceress and, nudging their feet together in a platonic play of footsies between the two vertically challenged women. “But, y’know, life’s still stays spicy even if marriage and babies are in the picture - maybe you’ll even find the crazy shenanigans here a nice break from breastfeeding. Sorry about your boobs. I know the feeling.”
Hopefully that day arrived soon because right now her life was just full of shit, literally. “I don’t think my life will ever get boring with you around,” Veronica joked. Even when the county had it’s brief moments of calm Lina still kept things interesting.