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 Posted: Thu Mar 01, 2018 9:05 pm
Never thought I'd get the stink eye for calling myself a slut. What happened to calling a dog a dog, or calling a bluff a bluff? Nothing wrong with being a slut… They're just jealous, really. Isaiah's thoughts followed him as he followed the dwindling crowd out of the church's communal room. It was easy to spot the newcomers from the old veterans — those that either attended in their pajamas or barely got themselves dressed in the dark through a splitting hangover intermixed starkly with those dressed in their Sunday finest. Most of the old vets were heavily into the Godite traditions propagated by the church, which likely secured their meeting space for them.
But Ice was Ice, and whenever he was expected to dress in his respectful finest, he chose to wear skin-tight leather and rivet-clustered muscle shirts with a fishnet undershirt. He painted his nails black. He put his face on — vivid purples and ultra glittery blacks included — and flashed a smarmy smile at anyone who frowned at the practice. Hell, he even sassed his way through his own ******** migraines brought on by his overblown drinking habit.
Habit, he thought as he exited the double doors, what a funny word. We say it like it's a terrible thing, and we put nuns in them all the same. What's it mean to wear a habit, anyway?
Ice paused not far from the entrance, ten feet at most, and rustled around in his equally rude and spike-studded jacket for his smoking paraphernalia. Out came a Marlboro Black and its accompanying Kat Von D edition lighter, a quick flick stirring the flame that stoked his cancer stick. A drag, and he sighed his disappointment into the evening. Habit. The word sounds stupid as hell. But damn if it doesn't look fine in the bedroom. How come nuns have to be virgins, anyway? Christianity just seems so a**-backwards. No use fretting about it, though. The church cooties'll wear off by the time I get home.
Still more filtered out of the church, and he spared them little more than a namesake glance. Half the stories told in there sounded fake, and the other half blown out of proportion while DC's resident alcoholics tried to justify themselves. Hell, he felt like he needed to drink every time he walked out of that room.meighei sorry about the long wait, school's been hectic. ice can meet up with alphonse outside?
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Posted: Fri Mar 30, 2018 11:47 am
Why was he here? He wasn't feeling any better as he walked out of the establishment into the still slightly cool air. Wasn't this supposed to make him feel - be - okay again? Why did he suddenly feel worse like some sort of new disgust filled his empty stomach? He had been drinking. That's why he was here standing outside a church with world-weary eyes he couldn't conceal even if he tried. He had never really been into religion. At least, not like this. He had never thought spirituality to be something one performed in front of others like some sort of act. Like a show. He shook his head and closed his eyes. Not that. Anything but that dream. That nightmare. Its what the alcohol - albeit a sad, first-time effort - was supposed to fix. And when it didn't, this place was supposed to. Neither had worked one bit for Alphonse. He nearly bumped into a man and almost didn't look up. He was tired and - hungover? He wasn't sure. He remembers looking up at the man and having trouble focusing. Was it the smoke from the cigarette or maybe the makeup that caused the young man to question what he was seeing. He was questioning everything since the incident so it was, perhaps, none of these. Alphonse had never tried smoking, but he liked the smell. It reminded him of cheap incense. Perhaps there was one more mistake he could try? "Could - could you spare a cigarette? I could use one right now."✪Strickenized Sorry for taking so long as well. I think I forgot how to write and had to do this like three times because I hated each one.
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Bishoujo-senshi Mahou-shoujo
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Posted: Sun Apr 01, 2018 4:00 pm
Ice didn't intend to say much to the young one that found his way into the meeting that day. Really, the whole affair was simultaneously draining and uplifting — encouraging and horribly undercutting for how many hours of how many days he squandered on drinking. But guilt was part of the program, wasn't it? If they didn't guilt him out of spending his time on drink, then there went half the motivation to stop. Or something.
He didn't care to look so much into how it worked. And neither did the dejected teen that stumbled out the doors, he supposed. At that age, he was ruining his life in new and exciting ways. Better AA than NA, kid. Trust me.
But instead of wandering off zombie-like and utterly defeated by the bizarreness of it all, the boy basically sidled up to him. Asked for a smoke. The usual stuff. So Ice tossed him the barest of friendly smirks — about as much as he could manage given the weight on his heart — and pursed his cigarette between lips while he fished for the pack. He shook one out and offered it to the boy, then exchanged pack for lighter in a practiced motion.
"Quite the shitshow, isn't it? Walk in, listen to everyone pout about how drink destroyed their lives, Praise Jesus, Hellelujah, that's-all-I-know-for-the-Christian-thing. Then we get preached at for how we should be grateful we're still alive, here have a medallion, now get out and have a great day. Not sure I'm into the whole 'surrender yourself to a higher power' shtick, either. Could be kinky, but it isn't." Ice paused, then grinned to himself.
"Listen to me, going off about the meeting like you needed to hear more of it. I'm Ice, but you can call me pretty. You are?"
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Posted: Sun Apr 08, 2018 1:05 pm
Alphonse caught the other man's faint smile - bare, forced, practiced even - and he tried to give the man one of his own. Usually, it wasn't hard for him to smile. Faking a smile was practically second nature to him. He hated seeing others unhappy. But for today, what was once easy and regular seemed downright impossible. Whatever expression he greeted the gift of a cigarette with it hardly registered as a smile. Hopefully, it was the thought that counted. And it was thoughts that he was trying to get rid of, wasn't it, after all? "Alphonse." Should he have given another name? He fumbled with the lighter. No, no. The man had said to call him 'pretty'. That was unusual. Or was it? Alphonse stared at the flickering flame for a moment before lighting the cigarette. Fire. So many meanings for fire now. It was part of that dream too. "I wish I knew what to think about the meeting." He still hadn't put the smoking stick to his lips instead looking at it tenderly before looking up and noticing Ice's made-up face for what felt like the first time. He really was rather pretty. "That... Is that how church is supposed to be? That... Wasn't any help at all... Was it supposed to be?"✪
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Bishoujo-senshi Mahou-shoujo
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Posted: Wed Apr 11, 2018 11:08 am
"Good to meet you, Alphonse. Any nicknames, or are you the traditionalist sort?" The name sounded old-fashioned, though no more than his own.
And the kid himself looked pretty trashed, like he rolled the shitpile of lives when he was born and it hadn't let up since. Well, most of the people in the meeting could relate to that. All the sob stories tended to fall out once the meeting started and they seldom had a reprieve until the end of it. But sometimes there were those caches of positivity meant for people like Alphonse, who likely needed them to stay afloat.
Shifting slightly, Ice perched his foot against the wall, scuffing it gently. "They're all like that." he took a drag and loosed the smoke through his nose. "The meetings, I mean. At least it seems that way. Doesn't really matter what they're for, whether Al-Anon or NA or Testicular Cancer Awareness or Huntington's Group or Insert-Horrible-Disease-or-Disorder-Here therapy. Not that I've been to all those or anything," he added, looking askance to his conversant and scratching his nose.
"But it's not. really. how church is, I don't think. These groups, they go and hole up in churches since churches are the places that let them hang out for dirt cheap or for free. They're all nonprofits so it's not like they're rolling in cash to rent someplaces fancier or less religious. Though I'd quite like that — not really that keen on a religion that posts murder scenes up as their symbol, you know? The whole 'Christ died on the cross' thing is a bit much to be flaunting around like that. Oh, but don't listen to me; nerves get me talking a bit much.
"What I mean to say, though, is: welcome to AA. Because it's always like that. What brings you to it?"
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Posted: Sun Apr 22, 2018 3:15 pm
It was a bit of unexpected relief when the man said that the meetings, indeed, were usually like this. It was almost as if he had been afraid that his mere presence had ruined the whole holy aura of the place and turned it into a morass of gloom and doom. Perhaps he shouldn't mention any of his nicknames. There was the one Yuki - his knight ancestor - had given him, but that one would be hard to explain. And the ones Tama would give him, well... "I guess I am here because of the nightmares." Alphonse was once again not looking directly at Ice. It was as if he thought this melancholy expression would somehow taint the sharp make-up of his wiser companion. "That and I learned something about myself that I don't really like. How about you?"✪
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Bishoujo-senshi Mahou-shoujo
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Posted: Sun Apr 29, 2018 9:19 pm
Nightmares. Sure, he remembered having his fair share of nightmares when he was a newly minted adult, but Ice never recalled any that were bad enough to drive him to drink. Rather, he was certain those nightmares came up because of the drinking. Or, more likely, the drugs. To have it be the other way around struck him as certifiably odd. Was this kid having night terrors?
"Always a pisser to learn something about yourself that you don't like. I knew a guy once who found out, through the joys of Something Awful, learned that he was into scat porn. Never did forgive himself for that, I don't think. Became my dealer not too long after that." As for me, I was never really thrilled that I got put into this knight business. Not quite one for saving people I never knew. And for the people I do know… Maybe not all of them are worth saving. A quick drag of his cigarette filled the punctual silence.
Ice cocked his head a moment, staring hard at the empty windows across the street. The For Lease sign, belonging to a real estate broker he never heard of before, advertised mutely back at him. Please move in, it said. Rent this space. Like anyone was scrambling to live anywhere near this city.
"I suppose I'm here to get back to where I was." He chewed his lower lip thoughtfully, then added, "I used to be a Buddhist. Well, still am, but I used to be good at it. Not temple levels of great, but at least going through the paces well enough. And I was clean once too, believe it or not. And usually self-help groups like these have a certain cathartic energy to them, but this one just bombed. Like I'm pretty sure everyone just went their separate ways only to meet up at some dive bar five minutes later. They're not even going to wait for evening. But, as they say, you're only an alcoholic if you drink alone." He offered a curt shrug.
"Want to get out of this dreary place for a while? I know this horrid-looking restaurant up on Eighth that serves hamburger that are to die for. And that might literally kill you if you have some kind of heart disease problem. Shouldn't be a problem for you, though, right? You look like a spry thing," he added with a wink.meighei i'm sorry, isaiah is a ho. perpetual drawback to the character lol
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Posted: Fri May 11, 2018 11:33 am
To go back to where he was before. Alphonse would have liked that very much. If only he knew how to get there from here. It seemed a small eternity away from where he was now standing outside a church with some stranger, leaning against an old building like a delinquent and blowing smoke into already contaminated city air. The young man choked on his cigarette as he exhaled smoke awkwardly. He was used to being around smoke as he enjoyed incense, but he never exhaled a substance so intently before as he did that gift from the man beside him. He had always been facinating by Eastern religions and had been studying a bit of Shinto on the side, but he hadn't given much thought to any religious solutions to his problems. Though it didn't look that way standing outside a church like he was... "I would..." He stumbled over the words a bit surprised at his own quick response. "Really... like to get out of here, actually."✪
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Bishoujo-senshi Mahou-shoujo
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Posted: Wed May 16, 2018 12:56 pm
"That's my kind of answer." Ice smiled approvingly. With a nod of his head, he turned about to start walking up the street. "Should be able to walk it from here in maybe ten minutes. Beats the christ out of trying to park or taking the bust. Wait, am I allowed to say that in front of a church?" He spared a glance back at it, yelled <********> at its exterior, and waited half a minute for God to smite him. When no bolt of lightning came out of a clear day, he simply shrugged and continued his walk.
"I'll try to do us both a favor and not buy any drinks, by the way. Though I think that solution will get a bit tough if they put us at the bar… Shouldn't, though, not at this hour. Hell, I don't think they even serve alcohol this early." His mouth watered at the thought of a whiskey to drench the solemn funeral that was the AA meeting that day. But his new friend Alphonse looked quite troubled enough; he couldn't, in good conscience, go right back to drinking in front of the boy. 'Isaiah' and 'conscience' seldom ran in the same circles, however.
It didn't matter in the end. He had ten minutes of walking to come up with conversation to entertain them both, to learn more about this curious youth, and to think about how best to form a solid connection.
Sober was always so much more interesting with a friend.meighei we can fin here! if you'd like, we can do a followup at the restaurant or have them reconnect in present day!
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Posted: Wed May 23, 2018 11:51 am
Alphonse nodded in response and gave a weak, but genuine, smile. Grabbing a bite to eat should help with the still lingering headache that had accompanied him until now like some nagging reminder that he had given his body near toxic levels of alcohol over the previous days. Some company would certainly help as well. All of this was so unlike him that he almost laughed as the two left the church building behind. He was glad that they wouldn't be ordering drinks, though, he wouldn't object if Ice was treating. ✪
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Bishoujo-senshi Mahou-shoujo
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