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

[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.]

[sandhate]

[ he gives chloe a look ]

People have bad days. It won't kill you.

[helladoomed]

[Chloe actually makes a noise that is somewhere between a choke and a laugh at that.]

Shows what you know. It killed me.

[sandhate]

[ OH OF COURSE. fucking good for nothing force perception ]

What?

[helladoomed]

[She hauls herself to her feet, a bit more shakily than she had expected, and points two fingers at him from the hand holding the bottle.]

I'm dead. Back there. No going home. No second chances. No 'oh this is just a break from my life' bull fucking shit. This is it. I stay here, or I disappear.

And if Max never comes back, I never fucking see her again.

[Her voice might have broken a bit during the end there.]

[sandhate]

[ he spreads his hands, ready to steady to her when that information sinks in.

he wasn't exactly expecting it but it killed me didn't sound like a joke, even for a dramatic and drunk teenager. ]

I'm... sorry. That is a rather tough situation to be in.

[helladoomed]

'rather tough.' [Chloe repeats that, then bursts out laughing, wobbling a bit before she drops back down onto the edge of the bed again.]

Yeah. It's definitely 'rather tough.'

[sandhate]

Look, maybe. Maybe she'll come back. [ he's really grasping at straws here ]

Or maybe she won't. What are you going to do, just keep getting drunk?

[helladoomed]

Maybe. [She did not sound convinced.]

And I don't know. Maybe not net week? But I'm sure as fuck gonna keep drinking right now thank you.

[sandhate]

[ He snorts and eyes Chloe. ]

I won't stop you. I'm not that cruel. Just... [ A sighs ] Come find me if you want to talk, or just beat things up. That, I can help you with.

[helladoomed]

[Chloe snickers.]

Beat things up, huh?

[sandhate]

[ he shrugs and chuckles along with her ] Things, being a punching bag. Or me. You don't look like you could punch hard.

[helladoomed]

I'm more of a kicker anyway.

[She does manage a little smile at that.]

[sandhate]

Sorry to disappoint. You don't look like a hard kicker, either.