Whimper

[Harlequin]

Looking back to him as he spoke, Ami titled her head to the side.

Well, shit. Awkward or no, the guy was smart. She hadn\'t thought about it that way. It hadn\'t even occurred to her not to let this change her. Everything about the situation had made it feel like it should change her. Like it was somehow a major life event.

Shit, she hadn\'t let getting shot change her, why should she let some weasel of a vampire do it? She\'d been right when she\'d told him she was better off without him. Archer was scum, and she was...above that.


"Shit," she said, "Yeah. You, uh. Shit." She nodded her approval, dumping her lighter out of her cigarette pack and onto her lap, "Good call." Was what she finally decided on, lighting her cancer stick. "Can I be mad for a long time, though? I kind of like being mad."

[Cy for Cypher]

Lefty grinned again at her colorful acknowledgment. He wasn\'t used to switching back and forth between expressions so often. His face felt a little rubbery for it. "Yeah. I recommend it. Getting it all out of your system now\'ll make it easier not to worry about it later, yeah?" He shrugged--or half-shrugged, as Ami had more or less possession of one of his shoulders.

It was baffling to him that anyone would want to do that sort of thing to Ami. Ami was... she was cool. She was fun, and interesting, and, in her own way, a good person. It was easy to miss the last bit under the layers of cursing and coarse manners and distorted by the varieties of inebriation that she often subjected herself to, but it was there, and once you saw it, all of those things that used to block it off, all those flaws, sort of clicked into their proper places. In the end, they only sort of magnified it. She didn\'t deserve to be jerked around like that. Vampires!

He fell silent, letting her suck on her cigarette. This would probably do more wonders for her nerves than any advice he had to offer, for now. He would let her make the next move, and for now would just be here.

[Harlequin]

She sucked down her smoke in silence for awhile, contemplating what Lefty had said. Thoughtful, but visibly less tense than she was when she\'d arrived. Part of it was the cigarette, but more of it was Lefty. This was the first time she\'d ever hung out with him and he wasn\'t doing any tricks with shadows or smoke or anything. He\'d even let her take his precious sunglasses away.

"It\'s so...confusing. I\'ve never had to deal with anything like this before. I always kept guys, you know, at a distance. Hit it and quit it. And then, the first time I let someone in, he fucks me over. Hard." She huffed down another lungful of air, "It\'s been a year and a half. You\'d think I\'d be over it. But then I see him. And it\'s like I\'m feeling it all over again, only worse." She tilted her head to the side, "Kinda better, though. Now I know he\'s a scumbag."

[Cy for Cypher]

Lefty let his gaze wander as Ami contemplated matters over the heart through her cigarette smoke. It hadn\'t crossed his mind to play around with the shadows, not since he\'d figured out how serious Ami was about all of this. He placidly watched the night with half-lidded eyes, more visibly relaxed than he\'d been in quite a while.

When Ami spoke, though, he was attentive. This time, there was no defining the expression on his face. "Well," he began slowly, his words betraying that he was on unfamiliar ground, "I think you sort of... man, y\'know, this is going to sound cliche, but could it be that you needed closure? I don\'t know, if it\'s been over a year and you\'re just now getting around to this..." He shrugged. "It kind of sounds to me like this was an unresolved matter. Till tonight. And if it was, then that\'s probably why you feel so bad. But it\'s gonna get better."

Jeez, poor Ami. Lefty had no idea she was so guarded with her emotions. Letting someone get close only to hurt her was going to complicate matters in the future. Hopefully she\'d be able to handle it.

[Harlequin]

Ami hadn\'t watched enough TV or movies to become familiar with clichés, so she would\'ve been none the wiser if he\'d left it at that, but she nodded and snorted like she knew it was passé. Still, though, he had a point.

"You\'re probably right. It just felt like this...big question mark." She traced the shape of the offending punctation in the air with her cigarette, dotting it with more force than was necessary. "Now it\'s really over. I can stop pining." Now that she knew she\'d been pining after a lie (a game. A mask and not a man), anyway. She spat the last word like a curse. To some extent, she had won.

She took another drag on her cigarette. Realized it was dead. Wrinkled her nose and flicked it away. "Is it wrong to hate a whole species because of one fuckup? Or are they really all like that?"

[Cy for Cypher]

Lefty winced. "I\'m going to have to plea the fifth on vampires. I\'ve kept away from them for the most part. We, uh, we don\'t get along. Historically." He paused, and added, for her benefit, "That is, nightmares and vampires. Something about our blood."

He glanced her way. "But in general I\'d say, try not to judge the species by the example. Just because you know one cool, amazingly suave nightmare," he grinned cockily, a trace of humor finally working its way into his voice, his face, but disappearing just as quickly, "doesn\'t mean they\'re all going to be such awesome fellas."

In the heart of that joke was a serious message, of course. Ami needed to be careful as far as the supernatural was concerned.

[Harlequin]

As far as the bad blood thing went, Ami thought that was likely for the better. Made Lefty\'s life less complicated by a long shot.

Nonetheless she snorted and nodded her understanding. It\'d probably take awhile for her to be able to be around vampires again – and to see them as anything other than petty, stupid parasites – but she\'d try to keep his wisdom in mind.

She just picked a shitty one, that was all. They made people like that, too. Archer had been a person, once.

In a surprising show of affection, Ami rested her head on Lefty\'s shoulder. "Makes me wonder if it\'s worth it, y\'know? My life was fine before all this bullshit."

[Cy for Cypher]

Lefty didn\'t flinch at the contact. Ami wasn\'t making him nervous tonight, which was good, because he would not have been much consolation to her as an enormous horse skeleton. The last time she\'d been this physically close, she had been on fire, rolling loose waves of such intense heat that Lefty had flinched from her. All of her fires were out tonight, though. He was comfortable with her, and more than a little honored that she was sharing this vulnerability with him.

It made them even. After all, Ami knew of at least one way to render Lefty absolutely helpless. They had shared each others\' weaknesses. In a way, it made them better friends than just sharing their joy. Or it did in Lefty\'s mind, anyway. He\'d had many friendly acquaintances over the years, but few true friends. "I would offer you some sage advice in regards to that, but I don\'t think I have anything that wouldn\'t sound like a hallmark card except for this: it generally is. No matter how it ends, it\'s better for you to have at least done it once. The, uh, the love thing," he clarified, blinking, in case he hadn\'t been clear. "Everyone should try it once. I recommend, for you, at least twice, Boss."

[Harlequin]

It sounded like a prescription. Ami smiled with one side of her mouth, "Thanks, doc."

She heaved a sigh then, "So how\'s this treatin\' ya? The lighthouse? bein\' all formless?" She still couldn\'t really get her head around that part, but it was time to change the subject. The knot curled around her lungs had loosened somewhat, and she didn\'t want to push her luck.

[Cy for Cypher]

Lefty glanced her way, his expression somewhat dubious, but he decided to follow her lead and change the subject. "Pretty good. Usually I have to go out of my way to avoid, you know, populated areas during the spring and summertime. It\'s nice to have a sort of, y\'know, safe place." It was frustrating, dealing with a ridiculous and easily-triggered gease. Being in the open air helped, but some nights--when the humid air was heavy with the delicate perfumes of summertime blossoms--instilled a sense of dread in Lefty where most others would see pure romantic bliss.

"As for being formless, it\'s pretty much the same as it\'s ever been. Fun. Makes it easy to sneak up on folks." He grinned wickedly, and this time didn\'t even bother to manipulate the shadows around him to enhance the effect. There was enough mischief in his eyes that he didn\'t need it.