WHERE: Vallo: The Outpost WHEN: March 1st, 2033 WHAT: Sabrina and Keith have their annual 'let's get shitfaced and talk about what we miss about the past' "mimosas." WARNINGS: Apocalypse vibes, but nothing triggering here. STATUS: Complete
There was an ever present haze of rain. It had been constantly in the air for the last few days, dampening everything, adding to the constant misery. Good for the plants that Sabrina spent most of her time toiling over each day, but miserable for everyone’s mood. It added to the defenses and worked against everyone in equal measure, but at least she’d been able to harvest a good amount of produce for that week’s rations. Plus a few more bottles of moonshine to add to her small stockpile back at the Outpost. She needed to refill her usual orders and pass on some to the other safe houses later on in the week.
She slicked her hood back, water dripping off of her and onto the cave’s floors as she headed toward the storage area. Salem trailed after her, always alert, looking for anything out of the ordinary. Maze would pop up at some point to check in on her before heading back to fulfill her own duty. Her magic had been drained like everyone else, but traces of it still stirred beneath her skin. Desperate for use, to be released. Denied each and every time unless the circumstances were dire.
Drying off didn’t qualify as dire.
It took about an hour for her to get the produce into the right places and dole out the moonshine into the smaller bottles, dropping off several of them to people around the Outpost before tucking a few more away for safekeeping. Salem shook his head as she took one along with her, following the usual path to a small area out of the way of the others.
It had been nearly a year to the day since the last time she’d met up with Keith to do ‘mimosas’. They hadn’t had anything that actually resembled one since the first year, but a few shots of moonshine more than helped with the buzz they were both after. Sabrina hunkered down on one of the boxes and poured them both a shot as she waited for him to arrive.
It had become something of a standing tradition for them, this yearly drink of theirs. Neither one of them could afford to drink on the regular anymore because who knew what piece of hell waited for them on the other side. An alarm could go up at any time and while things had relaxed, somewhat, for the Outpost, this constant paranoia of theirs is what kept them alive. But you couldn’t be paranoid all of the time or you burned out.
So Keith had agreed to this drink, that first year after Interitus had taken over, because the quiet his mind felt after was necessary to keep functioning. And because he missed mimosas with Sabrina, back when times were simpler and less awful.
“Hey,” he said, slipping into the small alcove that they claimed as theirs. Others used it when they needed it, but it was theirs every year around this time. “Sorry I’m late. We got held up getting back from the Sanctuary because of the rain.” Like her, he was still slightly wet, though he had shucked off his raincoat and muddy boots before making his way here. He hadn’t bothered to dry off his hair or pants, but in a couple of shots, he wouldn’t be feeling the slightly cold wetness anyway.
He reached down to greet Salem, before making his way to the box that would serve as his seat and sitting down across from Sabrina. “Harvesting go okay?”
Harvesting had become a solace that Sabrina had never thought she’d experience with gardening. She liked the fresh air and being outside, the forest a sanctuary for her in those first few years in Vallo and back home. But she’d become such a city girl after high school, keeping only a few herbs on a windowsill at the apartment she’d shared with Roz. It still felt surreal most days but then again everything felt surreal now.
“Better this year than last.” There were less people to feed as well, which helped with the amount of produce but she’d rather their people be around still. “The strawberries are coming in and should be ready to go in a week or two.” A nice little treat for everyone.
“Everything okay at the Sanctuary?” Hopefully it had been a social call and not the group there in need of help.
Sabrina had gone through a lot of changes since the starting days of the Outlanders. Sure, Keith had come around a few years after Outlanders had started to show, but from his early days of knowing Sabrina to knowing the woman sitting in front of him now, there was a significant change. Not for the better or for the worse. Just different. But that could be said about any one of them.
The unspoken knowledge that there were less people because more people had died or been thralled since their last meeting like this remained unsaid. No point in bringing up things that sucked right now.
“Mmh, good. Kipp’s been asking about them for weeks now.” They wouldn’t get much, because no one did due to scarcity, but it was a special little something to look forward to. “But yeah, everything’s fine. We wanted to visit with the guys and Yrsa because there weren't likely to be patrols to worry about right now.” He lifted his drink to toast Sabrina. “To kicking Interitus’ ass this year.” A wistful thought, but a wish that Keith made every year.
He shot his drink after the clink, wincing at the burn that he would probably never get used to, and set the glass down again. “How’s Roz doing?”
Sabrina had no clue how any of them managed to raise kids in the middle of the chaos. It wasn’t the life any of them had believed the kids would be getting, not from the visits of future kids that they’d had in those first few years. None of them had mentioned Interitus rising again or the years of devastation. Something had to have gone wrong. There were people gone who had been alive, children never born. Nothing made sense.
But right. Not focusing on any of that. It led to a spiral that no one ever wanted to go down. Depression was always a step behind, right on her heels in this place, waiting for the opportunity to sink its claws in.
She downed her drink and poured the two of them another. “I’ll make sure he gets an extra handful when they come in.” “Roz is alright. Doing the same as she has been. Nothing catastrophic happening where she is this month.” How long that would last was anyone’s guess. “How’s everyone at the Sanctuary doing?”
Sabrina hadn’t been able to visit in the last few weeks. She’d make a point after the strawberries came in so she could deliver them some.
If Keith and Shiro had known that Interitus would rise again and bring the world back to the dark ages where nothing was guaranteed, they might have fought the fae in order to get them to take Kipp after Zia and Zephyr had died. Because no one could find the fae, not even Intertius, and that read as safe to Keith. But what was done was done and now the best they could do was protect Kipp and make things as normal as possible.
But there was a good chance they would never have Kimmy in this lifetime. Keith had done the math. It would be right around now that they would have her and that wasn’t happening. Even if that hurt to the core, it was for the best. One less mouth to feed and one less precious life to protect.
“They’re good. We restocked on our personal stash of medicinal herbs. As well as “herbs,”” Keith said, finger quotes included. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a little stash of them. Handing it over, he explained, “A present from Freya to you, once she heard I was going to be seeing you today.”
Sabrina’s hopes on children had been dashed when Nick left. She’d never planned on having any so early before Ripley had shown up in their lives that first time the kids had shown up. She’d been a beautiful little miracle, but had blipped out of existence, whatever timeline she’d been part of disappearing as soon as he’d been sent home. It still hurt some days when she thought of her, thought of what might have been, but less so once everything had turned to shit.
She grinned at the package of herbs and slipped it into her pocket. Definitely needed to put aside some coffee beans and moonshine for that group when she headed over again. It was the little things that kept them all going.
“I’ll have to thank her the next time I’m out that way.” Sabrina stared down at the clear liquid, letting it swish back and forth in the glass. “Know what I miss? Long baths.” It felt like forever since she’d truly felt clean. “I don’t even need the expensive shampoo and conditioner that I used to use or a loofa. Just a nice, hot bath. With bubbles. No time limits.” No worrying about being caught out in one of the lakes or rivers.
Keith took his time with his second shot of moonshine, sipping on it as the burn started to fade and the effects started to kick in to mellow him out a bit. He groaned and closed his eyes at the thought of a nice warm bubble bath. “Fuck. I would give up moonshine for the rest of our lives if I could have one long bath.”
He could just imagine it, though it had been years since he had last had one. “Me, Shiro, a tub big enough for the both of us, and a stupidly fruity cocktail with an umbrella in it.” Too bad the chances of any of that happening were slim to none. Water was an essential that they conserved and, at best, you got enough lukewarm water to get the essentials cleaned up. More common was cold water for a military shower. But the fantasy of it was still nice, he thought, as he opened his eyes and his smile remained on his face.
“How’s Callum doing? Still a hit with the kids?”
A hot bubble bath would be a sure sign that the tide had turned. That they had won. Sabrina hadn’t imagined that happening in ages now. Every day Interitus took more ground, had more under his thrall. So many were dead. Even if they did end up defeating him nothing would be the same again. They were all broken in ways that could never really be fixed. It would be better than how things were though.
Sabrina grinned, shaking her head as she thought of Callum and the kids. “He’s doing about as well as he can.” Less complaining this week. Though she was never sure if that was a good thing or not. But he was alive. And that was good, right?
“The kids still love him. Much to his chagrin.” And her constant amusement. “Maze is annoyed she’s still on duty to keep him alive, but I’m not doing anything dangerous so she takes it in a lot more stride. Plus I’ve got Salem.” Her familiar was just as deadly as the hellhound when he wanted to be. Currently he was napping.
Keith still had doubts about Callum, even years on. But the only reason he never said anything was the fact that even ten years in, the other man was loyal to Sabrina. He had yet to betray her and, while that might have more to do with the fact that he was kind of a wimp with no powers and Sabrina was probably the only reason he was still alive, it was enough to get Keith to stay neutral on him.
Plus, the most important thing was he made Sabrina smile and that's all Keith could ask for, when it came to his friend.
"I still don't understand how it all panned out like that, but I'm not complaining. Kipp mentioned he seemed a lot less cranky during lessons this week." It only took the apocalypse for Keith to be okay with sending Kipp around Callum unsupervised.
“I don’t think anyone knows how it panned out like it did.” Sabrina definitely didn’t. It was still surreal most days. No more surreal than everything else that had happened. If asked where they would all be ten years ago she’d never have imagined anything like they were enduring day to day.
No one would have. No one could have. She doubted even the covens who’d been trying to warn everyone had predicted this exact outcome.
“Have you heard about any newcomers?” she asked, and took a slow sip. It was a miracle when anyone newly arrived managed to last more than a day. Even more so when one of the patrols stumbled across them and could get them to safety. Too often they were overrun by Intertius’ forces.
“Not anything good, lately,” Keith said with a tired sigh. “There’s just so many of the thralled now and we’ve been losing people left and right lately. Going out has been getting more dangerous with every mission or rescue, but it’s the only way we can survive so stopping and just hiding isn’t an option either. We’ve been managing to save someone now and then but…” he sipped on his moonshine, moodily. “It’s not enough. Hopefully the big project the higher ups are working on will pan out something better. They’re starting to call people back to the Outpost.”
He shook his head and then nudged her foot with his. “Hey, back on track. Only good stuff while we drink. We’re supposed to pretend we’re on your fancy boat and sailing around Vallo without a care in the world.”
“With the sun beating down on us, fancy drinks at our fingertips.” A smile blossomed on her face as she thought back on those days. She had a lot of happy memories that went hand in hand with that yacht. Some days she wondered what life would be like now if she’d gone to it when shit had really hit the fan. It never would have worked. There was only so much alcohol on board and even if she wasn’t out there fighting day to day, Sabrina wouldn’t have been able to abandon everyone else to this existence.
“Dancing at clubs. Trying out all the new restaurants that used to open.” How long had it been since she’d had Thai food? “I might miss that more than the hot baths.”
Keith, who had a better sense of smell than most and hated putting himself in vulnerable positions like dancing at a club would, snorted. “You can have that, I’ll stick to the bubble baths with my husband.” With the close quarters of the Outpost and the lack of facilities, it had taken some time getting used to the unique…smell of the Outpost. Nowadays, it was barely noticeable to him.
Lifting his partially empty glass, he peered at it. “I’m pretending this is a boozy milkshake and that a juicy burger is up next.” He missed grease. Everyone was way too lean in that bad way that came with limited resources and not the good way that diet and exercise got you. “Lance is going to call us to whine about not being invited along any second now.”
Sabrina groaned. “Did you have to mention burgers and milkshakes?” She’d purposefully steered clear of them. Both were big weaknesses for her. Her first few years in Vallo, she’d gone for them weekly with Dan. The two of them had milkshakes named after them at one of the burger places in the city. Not that either existed any longer. Dan was long gone. Hopefully in some other world and not ceasing to exist completely.
She touched the chip on her necklace chain. It had been his. One year sober. It was all she had left of him. The locket Nick had given her was gone, lost in the condo when everything had gone to shit.
“Maybe we’ll be nice and do this at their place next time.” They wouldn’t. This was hers and Keith’s.
The laugh that escaped Keith was short, but amused. "We're not that nice. This is our thing." This tradition was cherished not because of the moonshine, but because it had become a safe place for them to remember the past and be sad over what they had lost. They didn't need to manage anyone else's emotions, but could instead be as sad as they wanted without worrying what someone else might think or do.
So it would stay theirs for as long as the two of them made it through the year to meet up once more. He poured them more moonshine. "You think weed goes good with moonshine?" A hint.
Sabrina snorted. “You ask this question every time, Keith. Has my answer ever changed?”
Anything went well with moonshine in the middle of an apocalypse. “You’ve been by Darla to get more?” she asked. Sabrina was never sure how much they should mention any of the other safe places outside of the Outpost. Not that anywhere was really safe any longer. Threats were everywhere, all of them bidding their time until the next attack.
"No. Didn't want to bring any trouble to them by visiting. Patrols are getting heavier on the other side." It was a sobering thought, but he shook his head free of it. Keith pointedly looked at where Sabrina had tucked away the packet from Freya. "But Freya packed a goodie or two in there." Freya was a Goddess and Keith snickered to himself at the inner thought. Oh man, that moonshine could sneak up on you.
Sabrina raised a brow. “Oh did she?” Not that she was too surprised by that. Freya was good people. If patrols were getting heavier, the smart thing to do would be to give the goodies to medical. Might come in handy for anyone in pain. Oh well. Tonight was the one night where she didn’t have to be smart.
She tossed Keith the package back. “Bless Freya.”
Digging around in his pockets for a book of matches he had managed to scavenge on his last outing into the city, he caught the precious cargo with his other hand and laughed. "Bless Freya indeed. She finally got me to the heathen side after all, but I’m still calling bullshit on Atreus' flat Earth agenda."