And if you're still bleeding you're the lucky ones...

[helladoomed]

Who: Chloe Price, people who come to check on her.
Broadcast: Fleetwide
Action: On the Paisley
When: The morning after the last shuffle.

[Chloe is in Max's old room on the Paisley when she turns the feed on, recognizable by all the Polaroid pictures the shorter girl had plastered on her wall. She's got a half-finished cigarette in her mouth, and her expression is...hard to pin down. Sad? Angry? Frustrated? They all turn up as she tries to figure out what to say. Her eyes, slightly red and puffy, are focusing somewhere behind where the camera is, maybe on the wall.

[Finally she reaches up with her feet hand and grabs the cigarette, taking a quick drag before she actually looks at the camera.]

So, like. When someone disappears-

[Chloe starts, but only makes it a few words before she grimaces.]

If, I mean, if someone disappears, do they like, come back or...

[She stops again, sucking in a breath, and runs her hand with her cigarette through her hair, trying to collect herself. It drops back out of sight as she looks at the camera again.]

I-

[Clearly this isn't working, but this time she's just still, frowning faintly at the screen without really looking at it for maybe ten seconds. People who know her well could see the edge of tears there, but she doesn't let them show. Instead she sucks in a long breath and sits up straighter.]

Fuck. Never mind Just. Max is gone. For whoever knew her.

[These last words come out in a rush, and she puts the cigarette back between her lips as she turns the feed off.]

Action for the Paisley:

[Throughout the day, Chloe can be found in Max's room, looking through all of Max's selfies. Most of the time she's holding herself together, though occasionally there is crying, but she'll stop as soon as someone enters. There is a constant smell of smoke, and she dredged up a bottle of whiskey-esque alcohol from somewhere, though it's clearly not helping her mood.]

Comments

Text

[spontaneouscombustion]

Oh yeah, they can come back! Belthazar and Hiro were gone for a couple of months but they came back a few weeks ago!

Text

[helladoomed]

[Oh Pinkie Pie. Totally the wrong time for all that optimism. It's a while before Chloe bothers to look at her phone to answer.]

i'm not that fuckin lucky

[spontaneouscombustion]

[An attempt was made. Still, Pinkie DOES feel bad for the poor girl. She'd hate it if Cheese or Finn or Qing or any of her other friends got sent home without her too.]

I'm sorry. Do you need anything?

[helladoomed]

[You don't know the quagmire your attempt has brought you, Pinkie Pie.]

alcohol

[spontaneouscombustion]

[She's shipmates with Marian Hawke, it's not her first rodeo.]

Why DO humans want to drink whenever they're upset?

[helladoomed]

You ever done it?

[spontaneouscombustion]

Well, no. But I'm a pony; we don't make a lot of alcohol, and we only drink on super DUPER special occasions.

[They DO have alcohol, but it's used very, very sparingly, probably only for special occasions.]

text;

[robitussin]

oh fuck i'm sorry

text;

[helladoomed]

[It's a while before she answers.]

story of my life

text;

[robitussin]

you wanna vent? or a distraction

text;

[helladoomed]

what you mean instead of laying here drinking myself stupid?

text;

[robitussin]

1. far be it for me to tell anyone not to get wasted but

2. if you don't want to be alone while you get shitfaced let me know

text;

[helladoomed]

[There's another decently long delay before she answers.]

whatever why not

video

[passingthrough]

Chloe... [No, that's about all she's got.] That sucks. [It's a weak follow up to a weak intro, but it is what it is—something that sucks a lot. She feels for the girl. She knows what it's like to lose people.]

video

[helladoomed]

[It's ages before chloe answers, and the video feed is just half of Max's office, sideways, from a phone seemingly just left on a table in the middle of the room. The blue haired girl is not in sight.]

Yup.

video

[passingthrough]

[Well, hello room and disembodied voice.] Some people come back here. [And some don't.]

video

[helladoomed]

you really think I'm that lucky? 'cause I've never been before

video

[passingthrough]

Well, maybe she'll come back evil and then it will be unlucky.

I am good at comforting people. I should make this a career.

video

[helladoomed]

If Max turned out evil, we're all completed screwed.

ACTION

[sandhate]

[ he's seen chloe enough times to not even blink when she's here but man, that face.

he leans against max's door ]

That's not going help, you know. In the long run.

[helladoomed]

Who said I was trying to help anything.

[Drinking didn't solve problems it just made you not care about them.]

[sandhate]

That bottle says more than you think.

[ he steps cautiously, tossing glances around the room of selfies and max things. ]

At least you shouldn't drink alone. That makes it worse.

[helladoomed]

The bottle says 'Chloe, drink me and stop feeling so shitty!' It's hard to argue with.

[She waves the bottle vaguely in the air, almost drops it, but manages to snatch it before it hits the bed she's sprawled on.]

Yeah well, I'd be drinking with Max but...

[Angry gesture at the universe.]

[sandhate]

[ he snatches the bottle away with an out stretched hand but at a distance, as if his hand was calling for it.

he takes a swig and it's back in her hand before she knows it, probably ]

Isn't it better she's back home? She's back with her family. She might even be happy to see them.

[helladoomed]

...Yeah it's not that fuckin' simple man.

[She would've been more impressed if she weren't drunk, and hadn't seen Star Wars.]

The day she's going back to is the worst fuckin' day of her life. Mine too.

[Also her last.]