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The house was freezing.

That was just one of many of Zach's complaints about the current state of the house. There was food in the fridge, at least, but the house was pretty cold and laundry was piling up. He was too short to use the washing machine, even if Rene would allow it.

Rene was another one of his complaints. The formerly hard and angry girl now spent most of her time in bed, at the gym, or on the couch. The couch was her current position, laying under a knitted blanket and staring blankly at a television infomercial. It sounded like that guy who yelled a lot.

Shivering, vowing to add another sweater to his T-shirt and flannel, Zach moved into the living room. "It's freezing, and you haven't ate today." He told her, arms crossed. Rene blinked and looked to him.

"It's not snowing yet." She said, her typical argument against 'I'm Cold'. "Put on another sweater and some warm socks." No comment was passed on the 'you need to eat' part. She wasn't hungry, she wouldn't eat.

Zach grumbled and headed to his room for the sweater.

"SOMEONE'S KNOCKIN'." Zach called, shirt over his head. Rene ignored him in favor of sinking down deeper under her blanket, watching the infomercials. Oh, Billy Mays. You were a wonder.

Zach stomped out of his room and glared at her. "You're not gonna open the door, are you?" He asked huffily.

"No."

"YOU SUCK." Zach stomped off to the door. He had to drag a chair in from the kitchen, so it would be a few minutes before Henri would get any sort of answer from the inside of the house. The boy blinked up at Henri, head tilted to one side, then he looked down.

"Hey, Izzy!" Yay, smiles! His friend was here, and Rene liked Henri. "Get in! Rene's on the couch being a suck."

"There's stuff in the fridge!" Zach called, heading after Izzy. "C'mon, back here is my room!" There were toys there, and puzzles, and Zach had a space heater that was small and would shut off if tipped over, so it was safe. It'd make things nice and warm in there.

The Rene-Lump shifted and propped herself up on one arm, staring at Henri. "... ... Sup." Not much to go on, for sure, but at least she was paying some sort of attention.

Zach shut the door almost all the way and flipped on the little heater, like he'd been shown. "It'll warm up soon. If you want, I have sweaters." He said. "And games. It's been real boring around here. Really really boring. I'm glad you're here!"

Rene shrugged and sat up, letting the blanket fall to her lap. She undoubtedly looked thinner than she had whenever Henri had seen her last. More muscle, less... Meat. "I'm fine." She picked at the blanket in her lap, focusing on that rather than Henri. She didn't like lying. She wasn't good at it. But she didn't know what was wrong.

"Kitchen's open, if you wanna put it in there." She gestured with her head to the kitchen, her halo tipping slightly, dangles clanging against one another.

Zach went to his closet and tugged down another flannel, one of Rene's hand-me-downs, and put it beside Izzy. In case she wanted it!

"Kay!" He sat down and looked at the board game. Hrm. Didn't quite know what the rules were to this thing. Oh well. They'd just make up their own rules!

"You okay?" Had you been all right since he'd seen you last?

In the living room, Rene shrugged and pulled the blanket up over her shoulders. "Hell if I know." She said, flicking her lighter open and closed. "Maybe I got the b***h-itis or somethin'."

That wasn't much help, Rene.

"Boring." Zach said, setting up the game. Oh, generic game. You were awesome and fail. "I getta go to my Uncle's a lot, but he's kinda jerky." He crossed his legs and sighed. Hmph. "Glad you're here."

---


Rene shrugged and looked up at him, giving a sniff. "Yeah? So? Either I'm sad, or lethargic, or I want to hurl Zach through a window. It changes from day to day." Apparently tired of her infomercials, she flipped them off. There you go, Henri. You got her full attention!

"It's the season. It's a b***h to everyone."

Zach blinked. All right.

"Okay."

That one could be the dragon, then. He offered Izzy the dice. "You roll, and then hop your piece around. I think. Or we make up our own rules." That was always fun!

---

Again, Rene shrugged. She rubbed her upper arm and looked down. "Hell if I know. I wish I did. I don't want to feel like this. You think I like feeling like this?"

As she spoke, the volume of her voice rose, and Rene followed it up onto her toes. Pacing!

"I don't know what's the matter, and that just pisses me the ******** off. There's nothing wrong with me that I can tell, and Everything makes me mad, and then the angry wears off and there's nothing inside, Henri, Nothing."

Rene had picked up the remote and was tossing it up into the air as she paced. Well. That didn't look too normal.

Zach rolled his piece and hopped it along. Blaaaah.

"My mom's gone crazy." He mentioned, pushing the dice towards her. "I don't like it."

---

"I don't want to sit down." Rene snapped. She swiped the cigarettes off of the coffee table and lit up in her living room, continuing to pace and toss the remote. "I don't know what the hell I want to do, Henri. Everything's ******** all to hell and back. I'm ********. I just... I just-" Rene made a frustrated, cat-like yowl, and continued to pace.