(no subject)
Title: Without Consequence
Author: seatbeltdrivein
Recipient: annepackrat
Word Count: 1885
Rating: PG13
Characters: Riza Hawkeye, Rebecca Catalina
Summary: Riza lets Rebecca talk to her into a night on the town - which very much goes against academy regulations! - and regrets it.
Warnings: alcohol use
Notes: This takes place in Riza and Rebecca's first year in the academy, so in my mind, they're both at least 18 - which is what I'm pretty convinced the Amestrian drinking age is. See, it's all legal! Also, too much to drink + cold water is, well, a sure-fire way of curing terrible alcohol-related nausea. You'll see.
The glass was empty in front of her. Riza couldn't say exactly when that had happened, only that somewhere along the way, a shot called the slippery nipple had become her favorite drink ever. Consequently, it had also become her lap's favorite drink - she'd managed to completely miss her mouth on the third (or maybe fourth?) round, giving her the appearance of someone who'd wet themselves and sat in it for a good while. Suddenly uncomfortable, she shifted on the barstool and scanned the crowd for any sign of her dorm mate.
Nothing.
She shouldn't have been so surprised. Rebecca had a knack for disappearing at the worst possible moment - or best, maybe, depending on who exactly was speaking - and not turning up again for hours. It was something she'd been reprimanded for a dozen times over at the academy during outdoor exercises -
Riza's mind stumbled to an abrupt stop. The academy. The academy.
She cleared her throat in a way she hoped sounded authoritative and leaned across the bar. Rather than leveling the barkeep with a stern look and pinning him with her gaze, she somehow just managed to topple backwards, landing on the floor with a painful thud.
"Miss? You all right, down there?" For someone whose livelihood depended on his customers, the barkeep looked remarkably unconcerned with whether or not she was unhurt. Actually, if Riza didn't know any better, she almost thought he was trying not to laugh.
Oh, wait. He really was - his lips were quirked to one side, his chin quivering with barely restrained mirth. At the very moment he released the first stuttered chuckle, Riza was already chanting bastard in her mind.
She pulled herself to her feet, clinging to the bar to keep steady and upright, and said, "What time is it?" Only it came out sounding more like, "Time's it?" She winced at her own slurred speech and simultaneously found herself wondering whether that was normal, to still be conscious of her own foolishness even as far gone as she was. Shouldn't she just feel happy? Warm or something like that? She'd never drank before in her life - before tonight, of course - and even though she hadn't even begun to sober, Riza already regretted allowing Rebecca to talk her into this.
"Ah, let's see." The barkeep pulled out a pocket watch, flicked open the cover, let out a short puff of air at the face of the clock, and rubbed it clean on his apron. "Quarter 'til two. I'll be closing in about an hour." He sounded surprised and somewhat relieved.
Riza's stomach dropped so fast that there was a moment where she felt certain she was about to vomit. It passed quickly enough, but the shock of nausea was enough to force a portion of her rational mind to surface, alongside one looping thought: Curfew was nearly two hours ago.
She had to find Rebecca. She had to find her now, and they had to somehow get back into the academy and the safety of their dorm room without being seen. Oh, it wasn't even possible. Who was she kidding?
"Problem, missy?" The barkeep stared her down, one eyebrow inching steadily upward.
"I'm going to die," she said with the utmost sincerity, and stumbled off into the shifting crowd.
*
By the time she caught sight of Rebecca, 'quarter 'til two' had become 'a quarter past two', and Riza's inebriated mind had already began the steady descent into an alcohol-fueled anxiety attack. Rebecca was still at it, a beer sitting within arm's reach where she'd sat at one of the lounge chairs in the company of a man who looked old enough to be her father. Unlike Riza, however, Rebecca looked completely aware of her surroundings.
Riza immediately walked - stumbled, rather, and tripped over a stool - over and nudged Rebecca's shoulder, standing just at her side and projecting what she hoped was a menacing aura.
Rebecca, predictably, looked completely unaffected. "Riza," she said happily.
"Do you know," Riza found that if she spoke slowly enough, she didn't slur at all, "what time it is?"
Rebecca paused. Then she frowned and leaned across the table to look at her gentleman friend's watch - and then she blanched. "Oh, hell."
"Yes," Riza agreed. Really, there wasn't a better way to sum their situation up.
"We should go?" Rebecca got to her feet, pausing briefly to take one last swig of her drink - Riza was sorely tempted to smack the bottle out of her hand - before pushing past Riza to lead the way.
"You said," slow, Riza reminded herself, "you'd keep track of the time." Actually, Rebecca had said a lot of things, none of which seemed to have happened. Well, aside from the thing about getting Riza as pissed as her wallet could handle.
"I know, I'm sorry." Rebecca winced, and again, Riza was struck by how sober she sounded. "Look, it'll be fine. We'll sneak back in and no one'll notice."
"Impossible. We might as well go straight to the night guard and-"
"Riza." Rebecca looped her arm in Riza's and led them out of the swinging doors of the bar, leaving the bright lights and loud chatter behind them. "It'll be fine," she promised.
Riza, swaying unsteadily but remaining on her feet thanks to Rebecca, just nodded warily. She wasn't convinced, but that hardly mattered. In her mind, their fate was already sealed. And to think, she thought, allowing Rebecca to drag her onward down the dirt road leading back to the base, I had a perfectly clean record before this.
The farther they walked, the fuzzier things became, and that terrible nausea returned. This time, however, it didn't fade after a moment. It stuck to Riza's stomach, creeping up her throat and bleaching her skin an unhealthy gray. She tried twisting, as though movement would somehow ease this new discomfort, but that didn't actually help. If anything, moving made it worse. She would have just dropped to the ground and gone to sleep in the dirt if Rebecca hadn't been there to drag her along, placating her with it's just a little bit farther and wouldn't you rather sleep in your bed, Riza?
It was like she was hearing Rebecca talk through cloth. Her voice sounded muffled, distant and yet still close, and Riza really just wanted to tell her to shut her mouth, did she think this was making anything better?
When they finally got in sight of the tall arching iron gates of the academy, Rebecca slowed down. She started looking around, careful to keep out of plain view. "I think we're good," she muttered.
Riza stared around blearily. Good? How exactly was this good? Then she let her head hang down, her chin grazing her chest. She didn't care anymore. She just wanted this night to be over and the pain in her stomach to be gone.
Despite the way the world seemed to be tilting, Rebecca managed to get them both inside. The courtyard was clear, completely empty, and they didn't run into any patrolling officers or upperclassmen - at least, they didn't until they were in the first floor corridor of the dormitories. Rebecca had her arm around Riza's waist and was trying to drag her down the hall, Riza having given up any sort of movement the moment she recognized that they were indoors. They were just passing the showers when Rebecca froze.
Riza looked up again, mumbling. "What?"
"Oh, shit," Rebecca groaned. There were lights on at the end of the corridor - moving lights. A flash light? Rebecca, apparently not wishing to stick around and find out, dragged Riza into the nearest door - the communal bathroom.
She leaned Riza against the sink and frowned, pursing her lips. "Guess so," she said. Riza scrunched her nose, trying to make sense of whatever the hell was happening, but she didn't have the chance. Rebecca started speaking again: "You thirsty, Riza?" There was something hurried in the way she spoke.
"Yes," Riza groaned. As though through the suggestion alone, Riza found herself completely parched, dying to get some water, anything - so long as it wasn't alcoholic.
Rebecca turned on the sink, holding her hand beneath the faucet. She was frowning still, and fiddling with the faucet handles. "This'll do," she declared, and put her hand on Riza's lower back, trying to force her to bend down. "Drink!"
"From th'sink?"
"Drink," Rebecca repeated, this time with a frantic edge to the command.
So she did. The water was ice cold, and Riza bent down as far as she could to gulp the water, managing to get a good few mouthfuls in that awkward position before a sudden jolt shocked her system - particularly her stomach.
Just as the bathroom door opened and one of the night patrollers stepped inside with their flashlight illuminating both of the girls, Riza wrenched her head away from the stream of water and puked all over the floor.
*
Morning. Breakfast. Coffee. Everything sounded so unappetizing - in fact, it sounded downright sickening. The mess hall was too damn loud, too damn bright, and above all else, smelled way too strongly of food. Riza's forehead was down on the table, her tray of food untouched.
"Last night," Rebecca sat down across from her, a piece of half-eaten bacon stuck between her lips, "was awesome!" She kept her voice hushed, low enough to be heard by just the two of them. "Right?"
Riza lifted her head. "Awesome," she said blankly.
"And we got away with it, which is just the best," Rebecca continued, pouring syrup all over her food - over the eggs, the bacon, everything. "I'm a genius, you know, telling them you had food poisoning. Not a bit of trouble for us!" She was nearly cackling with delight.
"No," Riza said bitterly, "no trouble at all." She'd woken up that morning to the taste of her own vomit and a serious case of dry-mouth. Her head pounded, her stomach ached, and there were still the morning drills to attend to.
"So I was thinking, why don't we go somewhere with actual dancing next time?" Judging by her cheerful chattering, Rebecca was completely oblivious to Riza's turmoil.
Well, that just couldn't be.
"Rebecca," Riza began, leaning closer over the table and ducking her head down, "if you ever invite me on one of these nighttime excursions again…"
Rebecca nodded brightly, listening.
"I will shoot you during target practice and make it look like an accident," Riza finished with a growl.
"You are so no fun," Rebecca grumbled back, crossing her arms over her chest.
Certain that she'd gotten the point across - and hoping that Rebecca would leave her alone for at least the remainder of the day - Riza poked at the food on her tray, wondering if it would even be worth the effort to try to eat.
"No more night trips," Rebecca said. "But hey, winter leave is coming up in a few weeks!" She grinned.
Riza gaped at her across the table.
"Say, you going to eat your bacon?" Rebecca didn't wait for an answer before grabbing a piece and popping it in her mouth.
With a deep breath, Riza shoved her tray over to Rebecca and rested her forehead again on the table. Some things just weren't worth the effort.
Author: seatbeltdrivein
Recipient: annepackrat
Word Count: 1885
Rating: PG13
Characters: Riza Hawkeye, Rebecca Catalina
Summary: Riza lets Rebecca talk to her into a night on the town - which very much goes against academy regulations! - and regrets it.
Warnings: alcohol use
Notes: This takes place in Riza and Rebecca's first year in the academy, so in my mind, they're both at least 18 - which is what I'm pretty convinced the Amestrian drinking age is. See, it's all legal! Also, too much to drink + cold water is, well, a sure-fire way of curing terrible alcohol-related nausea. You'll see.
The glass was empty in front of her. Riza couldn't say exactly when that had happened, only that somewhere along the way, a shot called the slippery nipple had become her favorite drink ever. Consequently, it had also become her lap's favorite drink - she'd managed to completely miss her mouth on the third (or maybe fourth?) round, giving her the appearance of someone who'd wet themselves and sat in it for a good while. Suddenly uncomfortable, she shifted on the barstool and scanned the crowd for any sign of her dorm mate.
Nothing.
She shouldn't have been so surprised. Rebecca had a knack for disappearing at the worst possible moment - or best, maybe, depending on who exactly was speaking - and not turning up again for hours. It was something she'd been reprimanded for a dozen times over at the academy during outdoor exercises -
Riza's mind stumbled to an abrupt stop. The academy. The academy.
She cleared her throat in a way she hoped sounded authoritative and leaned across the bar. Rather than leveling the barkeep with a stern look and pinning him with her gaze, she somehow just managed to topple backwards, landing on the floor with a painful thud.
"Miss? You all right, down there?" For someone whose livelihood depended on his customers, the barkeep looked remarkably unconcerned with whether or not she was unhurt. Actually, if Riza didn't know any better, she almost thought he was trying not to laugh.
Oh, wait. He really was - his lips were quirked to one side, his chin quivering with barely restrained mirth. At the very moment he released the first stuttered chuckle, Riza was already chanting bastard in her mind.
She pulled herself to her feet, clinging to the bar to keep steady and upright, and said, "What time is it?" Only it came out sounding more like, "Time's it?" She winced at her own slurred speech and simultaneously found herself wondering whether that was normal, to still be conscious of her own foolishness even as far gone as she was. Shouldn't she just feel happy? Warm or something like that? She'd never drank before in her life - before tonight, of course - and even though she hadn't even begun to sober, Riza already regretted allowing Rebecca to talk her into this.
"Ah, let's see." The barkeep pulled out a pocket watch, flicked open the cover, let out a short puff of air at the face of the clock, and rubbed it clean on his apron. "Quarter 'til two. I'll be closing in about an hour." He sounded surprised and somewhat relieved.
Riza's stomach dropped so fast that there was a moment where she felt certain she was about to vomit. It passed quickly enough, but the shock of nausea was enough to force a portion of her rational mind to surface, alongside one looping thought: Curfew was nearly two hours ago.
She had to find Rebecca. She had to find her now, and they had to somehow get back into the academy and the safety of their dorm room without being seen. Oh, it wasn't even possible. Who was she kidding?
"Problem, missy?" The barkeep stared her down, one eyebrow inching steadily upward.
"I'm going to die," she said with the utmost sincerity, and stumbled off into the shifting crowd.
*
By the time she caught sight of Rebecca, 'quarter 'til two' had become 'a quarter past two', and Riza's inebriated mind had already began the steady descent into an alcohol-fueled anxiety attack. Rebecca was still at it, a beer sitting within arm's reach where she'd sat at one of the lounge chairs in the company of a man who looked old enough to be her father. Unlike Riza, however, Rebecca looked completely aware of her surroundings.
Riza immediately walked - stumbled, rather, and tripped over a stool - over and nudged Rebecca's shoulder, standing just at her side and projecting what she hoped was a menacing aura.
Rebecca, predictably, looked completely unaffected. "Riza," she said happily.
"Do you know," Riza found that if she spoke slowly enough, she didn't slur at all, "what time it is?"
Rebecca paused. Then she frowned and leaned across the table to look at her gentleman friend's watch - and then she blanched. "Oh, hell."
"Yes," Riza agreed. Really, there wasn't a better way to sum their situation up.
"We should go?" Rebecca got to her feet, pausing briefly to take one last swig of her drink - Riza was sorely tempted to smack the bottle out of her hand - before pushing past Riza to lead the way.
"You said," slow, Riza reminded herself, "you'd keep track of the time." Actually, Rebecca had said a lot of things, none of which seemed to have happened. Well, aside from the thing about getting Riza as pissed as her wallet could handle.
"I know, I'm sorry." Rebecca winced, and again, Riza was struck by how sober she sounded. "Look, it'll be fine. We'll sneak back in and no one'll notice."
"Impossible. We might as well go straight to the night guard and-"
"Riza." Rebecca looped her arm in Riza's and led them out of the swinging doors of the bar, leaving the bright lights and loud chatter behind them. "It'll be fine," she promised.
Riza, swaying unsteadily but remaining on her feet thanks to Rebecca, just nodded warily. She wasn't convinced, but that hardly mattered. In her mind, their fate was already sealed. And to think, she thought, allowing Rebecca to drag her onward down the dirt road leading back to the base, I had a perfectly clean record before this.
The farther they walked, the fuzzier things became, and that terrible nausea returned. This time, however, it didn't fade after a moment. It stuck to Riza's stomach, creeping up her throat and bleaching her skin an unhealthy gray. She tried twisting, as though movement would somehow ease this new discomfort, but that didn't actually help. If anything, moving made it worse. She would have just dropped to the ground and gone to sleep in the dirt if Rebecca hadn't been there to drag her along, placating her with it's just a little bit farther and wouldn't you rather sleep in your bed, Riza?
It was like she was hearing Rebecca talk through cloth. Her voice sounded muffled, distant and yet still close, and Riza really just wanted to tell her to shut her mouth, did she think this was making anything better?
When they finally got in sight of the tall arching iron gates of the academy, Rebecca slowed down. She started looking around, careful to keep out of plain view. "I think we're good," she muttered.
Riza stared around blearily. Good? How exactly was this good? Then she let her head hang down, her chin grazing her chest. She didn't care anymore. She just wanted this night to be over and the pain in her stomach to be gone.
Despite the way the world seemed to be tilting, Rebecca managed to get them both inside. The courtyard was clear, completely empty, and they didn't run into any patrolling officers or upperclassmen - at least, they didn't until they were in the first floor corridor of the dormitories. Rebecca had her arm around Riza's waist and was trying to drag her down the hall, Riza having given up any sort of movement the moment she recognized that they were indoors. They were just passing the showers when Rebecca froze.
Riza looked up again, mumbling. "What?"
"Oh, shit," Rebecca groaned. There were lights on at the end of the corridor - moving lights. A flash light? Rebecca, apparently not wishing to stick around and find out, dragged Riza into the nearest door - the communal bathroom.
She leaned Riza against the sink and frowned, pursing her lips. "Guess so," she said. Riza scrunched her nose, trying to make sense of whatever the hell was happening, but she didn't have the chance. Rebecca started speaking again: "You thirsty, Riza?" There was something hurried in the way she spoke.
"Yes," Riza groaned. As though through the suggestion alone, Riza found herself completely parched, dying to get some water, anything - so long as it wasn't alcoholic.
Rebecca turned on the sink, holding her hand beneath the faucet. She was frowning still, and fiddling with the faucet handles. "This'll do," she declared, and put her hand on Riza's lower back, trying to force her to bend down. "Drink!"
"From th'sink?"
"Drink," Rebecca repeated, this time with a frantic edge to the command.
So she did. The water was ice cold, and Riza bent down as far as she could to gulp the water, managing to get a good few mouthfuls in that awkward position before a sudden jolt shocked her system - particularly her stomach.
Just as the bathroom door opened and one of the night patrollers stepped inside with their flashlight illuminating both of the girls, Riza wrenched her head away from the stream of water and puked all over the floor.
*
Morning. Breakfast. Coffee. Everything sounded so unappetizing - in fact, it sounded downright sickening. The mess hall was too damn loud, too damn bright, and above all else, smelled way too strongly of food. Riza's forehead was down on the table, her tray of food untouched.
"Last night," Rebecca sat down across from her, a piece of half-eaten bacon stuck between her lips, "was awesome!" She kept her voice hushed, low enough to be heard by just the two of them. "Right?"
Riza lifted her head. "Awesome," she said blankly.
"And we got away with it, which is just the best," Rebecca continued, pouring syrup all over her food - over the eggs, the bacon, everything. "I'm a genius, you know, telling them you had food poisoning. Not a bit of trouble for us!" She was nearly cackling with delight.
"No," Riza said bitterly, "no trouble at all." She'd woken up that morning to the taste of her own vomit and a serious case of dry-mouth. Her head pounded, her stomach ached, and there were still the morning drills to attend to.
"So I was thinking, why don't we go somewhere with actual dancing next time?" Judging by her cheerful chattering, Rebecca was completely oblivious to Riza's turmoil.
Well, that just couldn't be.
"Rebecca," Riza began, leaning closer over the table and ducking her head down, "if you ever invite me on one of these nighttime excursions again…"
Rebecca nodded brightly, listening.
"I will shoot you during target practice and make it look like an accident," Riza finished with a growl.
"You are so no fun," Rebecca grumbled back, crossing her arms over her chest.
Certain that she'd gotten the point across - and hoping that Rebecca would leave her alone for at least the remainder of the day - Riza poked at the food on her tray, wondering if it would even be worth the effort to try to eat.
"No more night trips," Rebecca said. "But hey, winter leave is coming up in a few weeks!" She grinned.
Riza gaped at her across the table.
"Say, you going to eat your bacon?" Rebecca didn't wait for an answer before grabbing a piece and popping it in her mouth.
With a deep breath, Riza shoved her tray over to Rebecca and rested her forehead again on the table. Some things just weren't worth the effort.