Books for Crazies! [Log]
Who Dizzy (just_for_light) and Xianghua (roseatedawn)
When: Today?
Where: Their apartment, then a local bookstore.
Summary: Book shopping! Also scumbag-deterring.
…Wow, that was…quite an anticlimactic way to end it.
It sucked!
…Thank you, Necro. Undine let out a sigh, before Dizzy added in “I thought it wasn’t all bad…I mean, there were some good characters…and some…um…”
The plot was cookie-cutter, the random romantic interest was tacked on, and the world was so half-baked that it couldn’t immerse a lead weight! I reiterate, it sucked!
“…I have some money…I wonder if Xianghua would mind showing me a bookstore…” She could always use some more books around to eat up her time. She liked reading. It helped her relax, keep herself focused, make her think. She liked that. She looked around for Xianghua, and, failing, she said somewhat, but not quite loudly “Xianghua? Um, where are you?”
Xianghua hadn’t heard Dizzy, but the question was answered nonetheless-in the form of a loud clattering noise, as a remote control was hurled against a television screen hard. Xianghua had been unable to located anything watchable on television since the recent government announcement, and it was starting to get to her. She didn’t care about those stupid ghosts or whatever was running around! She hadn’t had to deal with them, ergo it didn’t affect her. Simple logic! Rolling off the couch, she moved to retrieve the controller from where it had bounced aside and landed, leaving both itself and the television screen miraculously unharmed. “Dizzy! Do you want to go out or something?” she yelled to… wherever the hell the other girl was located.
Is she getting violent at the television again? Undine asked.
Sounds like it.
Dizzy, however, now knew where her roommate was. She poked her head out of the bedroom she had taken up as her reading space, and slowly walked into the living room. “Um, I was actually going to ask you that…I need some books…if you know where to find them?” She smiled weakly and hopefully, part of her praying that Xianghua did, in fact, know of a really good bookstore. She had to, right? She had those other books…that were covered in dust, so Dizzy just felt like she should read them to make them feel good about themselves, instead of lonely and abandoned. That’s what you did, right?
“Hm? Books?” Xianghua looked up from the remote, which had been making an odd rattling sound as she shook it. Maybe it hadn’t come out of the impact as unscathed as she thought? Oh, well. Not like it mattered now! Tossing it carelessly onto the couch, she nodded. “Yeah, I have an idea where to get some. It’s not the best book store ever, but you should be able to find something there and it’s in the neighborhood.” If Xianghua was more of a reader, she would have whined about how it was a little whole in the wall with limited selection. However, she wasn’t, so it received the more rosy description.
“Okay! That sounds…great?” She was trying to get the hang of the thought to speech thing, with mild success. She walked over and grabbed the coat Xianghua had given her, zipping it all up (it was a little…tight, in certain areas) before deciding to hand Xianghua hers. “It’s a little cold out…” She hoped Xianghua didn’t think that Dizzy thought she couldn’t take care of herself or something, because she didn’t want that to happen and she wanted Xianghua to like her and not hate her and-
We have to do something about her thinking in circles as she goes.
Soon…
As it turned out, Dizzy had nothing to worry about-Xianghua just flashed her a smile and accepted the coat, throwing it on as she made her way to the door. “Thanks, Dizzy.” Pausing as she set one hand on the doorknob, she looked back over her shoulder at the other girl. “You all ready to go, or do you need to grab something before we leave?” She didn’t want to rush out if Dizzy wasn’t ready or something. That would be bad.
“No, I’m fine…” She had her wallet in the coat, and she was pretty sure she had enough money in there for something. Right? Right. She decided to wait for Xianghua to open the door to head out, since Undine just told her it’d be polite. “Um…Did you forget anything?”
“Nope! I’m good too.” Having determined that they were, in fact, good to go, she threw the door open and stepped outside, holding the door for Dizzy as well. “So, do you have anything in mind that we’re looking for, or just any old book?”
She walked out, and thought for a minute. “Um…No. Not really…Just hoping for something.”
That doesn’t suck! “Shhh…Um, you know any authors…?” Dizzy didn’t really keep track. “Or…maybe someone there knows…?” Although that involved talking to people, and that could end badly and painfully and end in embarrassment as well. So they might not do that, cus that’d be bad…
As they began walking, Xianghua attempted to pull the name of an author from memory. She failed miserably. “Mm… I can’t really think of any, but we should be able to find something if we browse around. It’s not a big place, so that shouldn’t be too hard to do, right? Or, yeah, we could ask someone that works there or something. S’what they’re there for, right?” ‘What they’re there for’ being ‘having terribly annoying customers bother them with questions,’ of course.
“Right. Um…lead the way…?” She was unsure, but Xianghua said it should be okay, so it should. Right? She hoped so. She didn’t want to be a bother to anybody…that’d be…bothersome? Bothersome. Yeah. That was bad. Meanwhile, she had to tune out her…other thirds.
I say she finds something violent! It might not suck!
She needs something on the lines of Charles Dickinson, Shakespeare, someone like that.
WHAT!? THEY SUCK!
Would you rather her read some trashy romance!?
Jesus Christ, no! Even I have standards!
Xianghua tilted her head at Dizzy, studying her for a moment. It didn’t sound like Dizzy was completely sold on what she was being told-and that was silly, because Xianghua wasn’t going to steer her wrong! It would be like telling a little kid to go play in a nuclear power plant. “Hey, don’t worry! I know where we’re going and what I’m talking about. We’ll find you something to read.”
“I. I didn’t say I didn’t trust you! I. um. I.” She blushed and looked down at her feet like a dog that just found out that digging up the flowerbed wasn’t a nice thing to do. “I. Sorry. Um…let’s go…” She stood there, hand on one arm in nervous gesture and waited for Xianghua to just…take her to the book store already.
“…Hey, stop that. I didn’t mean it like it was some big deal or anything.” Reaching out, she gently took one of Dizzy’s hands and began to tug her in the direction they needed to be going. Her face went a bit warm as she did this, for some reason or another-probably just embarrassment for making Dizzy feel bad when she hadn’t meant to. Yeah, that sounded about right. “Come on. This way.”
“…Oh. Okay. Sorry about…um, sorry?” She stopped her guilty puppy look, and assumed her look of total confusion and anxiety. It wasn’t until Xianghua took her hand did she just look confused, before smiling at the guidance. It pointed her in the right direction, towards where they wanted to go…so it’d probably be a good idea to make sure she didn’t loose it. She gave Xianghua’s hand a gentle squeeze, just to make sure it was still there, and would in fact, remain there.
Xianghua jumped a little at the squeeze, almost pulling her hand away on reflex. Ultimately, she didn’t, though-it was just a friendly gesture, right? Nothing to overreact about or anything. Right. Dizzy just felt comfortable being close to her, which… made her smile, for some reason. It was just nice to know they were close, or something like that. “I told you not to be sorry, silly.”
“Sor-mmh!” She almost apologized again, before catching herself. Xianghua just said not to be sorry, so she wouldn’t! That way they wouldn’t loop the argument. Right? Right. Okay. She was getting the hang of this.
Like hell you are…
Shh! She’s building self-esteem, you cynical jerk!
As they wound their way out of the building, she couldn’t help but notice the landlord and one of the tenets. One of the men from their apartment had the landlord…bent over, and was…doing something. She couldn’t figure it out.
…Oh my…god. Just. Oh my god.
Holy butt burglers, Batman! Wow, I figured he was gay, but I didn’t take him for a pillow biter!
SHUT UP NECRO, SHUT UP SHUT UP SHUT UP
Holy crap, I’m going to have trouble unseeing that.
Dizzy, meanwhile, blinked, before tugging at Xianghua and pointing at the pair who'd neglected to close the door. "Xianghua, what's the landlord doing?"
She followed Dizzy’s finger, did a double-take, and just… gaped, for lack of a better reaction. Her brain froze somewhere between ‘OH MY GOD I didn’t need to see that!’ and ‘Guy-on-guy action! Hawt!’, and ultimately just decided on horrible shame and embarrassment, since several parties in this equation seemed to be lacking it. “…They’re probably bargaining for rent or something!” She tried to force her voice to be cheerful and nonchalant since she didn’t want to explain to Dizzy in detail about what they were doing, but at the same time there was a noticeable grimace to her tone.
“…Okay?” She just noticed the horrible cries of her inner voices, but decided it was probably best not to ask, since they didn’t seem to want to explain. With that, Dizzy took the lead since Xianghua seemed totally frozen in place. “Well, we’d better let them negotiate in peace then…it’d be rude to interrupt negotiations.”
…Did…she…just…
Yeah, she did. She somehow managed to sound like she knew what they’re doing without…actually…gah. Necro felt like he had a migraine.
Ignorance is bliss….
Dizzy, of course, had tuned them out since they weren’t addressing her specifically. She found it made things easier.
We heard that!
“…Yeah. That’d be… bad.” And really really embarrassing, but she didn’t want to risk Dizzy asking her why so she didn’t mention it. “Though they should have closed the door if they really wanted privacy…” She sighed. No consideration about the consequences at all! Well, boys would be boys, she supposed, even when they were bending other guys over coffee tables.
“And embarrassing. I don’t think the other tenants want everyone to know what they’re paying, do they?” She looked back at Xianghua with a look that simply screamed complete, total innocence.
She’s doing it again! How is she doing it so well!?
Ignorance, once again, is bliss….
Dizzy again ignored them completely and smiled at Xianghua as they went down the stairs towards the front door. “Um, maybe you should take lead again…?”
Xianghua had to laugh at that. She was pretty much positive Dizzy had no idea what was going on, which made her words that much more amusing. “No, it’d be terrible for them if the rest of the building knew about that. Oh well. It’ll be their fault if everyone else finds out, right?”
As they exited the building, Xianghua seemed to have completely regained her wits. Nodding, she grinned and replied, “Yeah, sorry about that. I was just a little surprised to catch that on the way down, you know?”
“I suppose…” She shrugged. Meanwhile, Necro rubbed his hands and Undine shook her head.
No, we can’t blackmail her landlord!
But we could practically get the room for nothing! Think about it! He wouldn’t want the whole building to know he bites the pillow for rent!
…You…have a point. Hmm. I have an idea.
Dizzy paused and listened to Undine for a moment, before saying “He probably really wouldn’t want that going around, the landlord I mean…” Undine smiled a rather…devious smile inside Dizzy’s head.
Now we let she who is with more sinful a mind do the dirty work.
Ah, a girl after my own heart!
“Nope! I’m… pretty sure it’s technically illegal to accept that sort of thing instead of money. He could really get in trouble!” She briefly considered using this as leverage against him, but disregarded that plan of action… well, until they were late for a payment or something. After all, blackmail was illegal too, so she would like to have a good reason to do it. It let her keep some sort of moral high ground.
Dizzy didn’t quite get why he’d get in trouble, but Undine told her to let it go. Undine was usually right, so she did. “Right! Um…Where’s the bookstore now?” She was curious, so she’d know for later if she ever wanted to go and find it on her own, when Xianghua was tired and needed a nap, or Dizzy had a night off and Xianghua didn’t. Which seemed to be happening a lot lately. The boss said something about her 'bleeding the other girls dry.'
“Um… A couple of blocks this way,” she replied as she led Dizzy in the appropriate direction. “It’s really not far from the apartment at all. Of course, it’s also the only one anywhere near here, but…” Well, there was only so much one could do about location. At least it meant Dizzy wouldn’t have to go to far to get to it if she went by herself, since Xianghua didn’t totally trust her to handle herself yet. She couldn’t help but to feel strangely… protective of the other girl, for some reason.
“That’s good…it’s better than it being five streets down, right…?” She smiled, while letting Xianghua lead her along. She paused a moment or two, before asking “Xianghua…why does the boss give me more days off than you? Am I doing a bad job, or…?” Was ‘bleeding the others out’ a bad thing? She didn’t want to do a bad job, she could get fired for it and that would be really really bad because she couldn’t pay for her rent. Or save lonely books.
“Yeah, I guess so.” She grinned a bit, before Dizzy asked her other question. Her smile faded, and for a moment she just sort of… blinked at her. “Hm? Of course you’re not doing a bad job! It’s just that… well, you get more tips than some of the other girls, so you don’t need to work as often!” She really did wish their boss would hurry up and hire some other girls to fill positions on the extra nights Dizzy had off, though. She was getting tired of having to help fill in for other girls in addition to her usual dance routines.
“Oh…that’s all?” So…she was doing a really good job and she got days off so the other girls could catch up? That…wasn’t all too bad, right? Right! She nodded to herself and smiled a little, before realizing, that being so good at the job might make the other girls jealous and not like her…like most of them did. She frowned a little, and murmured “…None of them like me, though…” Their customers did, but all the other girls just…glared at her when she walked past. It was...upsetting.
Xianghua just sighed, before giving Dizzy’s hand a little comforting squeeze. “Well, that’s their problem, isn’t it? Not everyone has to like you, Dizzy, and if they want to not like you over something like that it’s their problem. You’re really sweet and they’re missing out.” She, of course, was probably being a huge hypocrite, considering she tended to act similarly to cute girls. Not that she thought they were cute, but guys did and that meant they were competition!
She paused as her guide gave her hand a squeeze, before smiling slightly and nodding. “Um, yeah, I guess so…” Although she’d like it if everybody did. It’d make things easier, and…well, people would like her. That was always good, right? And you wanted good things to happen to you! If people didn’t like you, they’d do bad things to you…so you got them to like you! Simple…right?
Xianghua, for her part, absolutely beamed. “It’s good that have friends, but not everybody’s… well, not everybody’s worth being friends with, and those kind of girls obviously aren’t. Besides, I can be friendly enough to make up for them not liking you, right?” Because, as far as she was concerned, Dizzy was her friend, and that meant she would have to keep her from feeling upset about anything at all costs.
“If you say so…” She smiled a bit, before Xianghua asked her other question. Dizzy had to blink a bit and think, before she could rationally come up with any sort of answer. How…did you quantify something like that? Xianghua had been really nice to her, though, more than she had any reason to…so…she guessed it might’ve…? “Um…I guess so…I mean…you’ve been…really nice to me…”
“Unless you aren’t happy about something.” She frowned slightly at the thought, before continuing, “You aren’t, though, right? I mean, at least not about anything I have control over.” In the process of thinking this over, she had almost missed the bookstore they were supposed to be stopping at-almost, as she suddenly realized this slip up after they had passed the door by about three feet. Half turning and dragging Dizzy back the other way, she grinned ruefully and chirped an apologetic, “Oops! Almost missed the bookstore.”
“No, no, no, I’m not! I’m…glad you do this for me…” She was trying to find some way to word her appreciation, but simply failed miserably. She was almost about to ask Xianghua if the bookstore was that thing they were walking by, when she pulled a one-eighty and dragged them into it. “Oh! Um, okay…it doesn’t look very busy…or…um, clean.”
Xianghua giggled slightly as Dizzy attempted to voice what she was feeling, and beamed a little bit as well. She was just so cute, she could practically kiss her! …If she wasn’t totally straight, anyway. At Dizzy’s observation, Xianghua just shrugged. “Well, it’s not really a lot better or worse than a lot of places here, you know? Some parts of the city just aren’t very well taken care of.”
She paused, before looking into the store window. “…It’s all dusty…the books’ll be dusty and lonely…” Her face took on a look of…determination. Taking the lead, she practically barged into the store and began her hunt. She had enough money on her to probably get at least four books, so she had to choose wisely which ones to rescue from this retail hell!
Xianghua was about to point out the she didn’t think books could be lonely, when Dizzy’s expression twisted into one of resolve. How could she say anything to that face? Dizzy was just… adorable sometimes. Pulling her hand out of the other girl’s as they entered the store, she stood back to watch her root around the shelves for a suitable bounty.
Dizzy took about four seconds to close in on a shelf and kneel down and work from the bottom up, glazing over names, titles, occasionally plucking one out and scanning the back cover of the paperbacks. She took a few minutes to sort through which ones were trustworthy and which ones were dirty liars that held only a boring tale beneath their covers, but she managed to pull out one by a man named Pratchett, some Hitchhiker’s guide, and a few other books that looked lost and confused.
It was then that a young man around twenty-five spotted Dizzy, and couldn’t help but notice the striking blue hair. Always a sign for an…easy time, right? He strolled up and kneeled down next to her, pointing out a book she decided wasn’t worth it. “You know, that one’s worth the read.”
Dizzy paused, blinked at him, then said “No…it’s too boring. Reads too deep, doesn’t know a story.”
The young man blinked in bemusement. Normally that line got small-talk going. She. What? …Maybe if he tried again? “…Well, I know this one’s really good. Excellent author.”
“…He’s a windbag. Takes to long to get to the point. I liked the one about the little man with the ring, though…”
As the man approached Dizzy and attempted to strike up conversation, Xianghua had to fight the incomprehensible desire to march up to him and punch him squarely in the nose. She wasn’t entirely sure why that was the dominant urge she had, but it was definitely there. Maybe she just wasn’t used to guys ignoring her in favor of someone else. Yeah, that had to be it! Never mind that her annoyance was directed at him rather than Dizzy.
She wasn’t going to do anything about it just yet, though. He’d probably get bored with her quick enough, seeing as she didn’t really know how to respond to the kind of attention she was being given, and Xianghua didn’t want to start any sort of scene if she could avoid it. However, she did take a few steps closer, ready to intervene if he tried anything else. After all, friends didn’t let friends get harassed by sleazeballs, even if they were stealing attention from them.
“Well, what’s wrong with Tolkien? He’s vivid, he works well, his books are legendary!”
“He’s a windbag. He talks too much about the trees, and the land, not enough about the people and their personalities.”
“I guess. What about this one?” He pointed out another of prospective favorites, in hope of…some common light. Something to give him brownie points!
He should have learned not to hope.
“…Boring.”
“…Are there any books you do like?”
“I think so. Just none that you’ve suggested. You’re not very good at this, you know…you rescue bully books.”
He had no idea what she meant, but, she was…fascinating. “…you know, I’d love to discuss this more over, say, coffee?”
…Okay, so much for hoping he’d just leave her alone. It was time to get Dizzy away from him. Moving to officially put herself in talking range, she reached out to touch Dizzy’s arm to make sure she had her attention. “Dizzy, are you almost done? I’d really like to get back to our apartment soon.” This was punctuated by her giving the man a rather pointed look. “You’re not being… bothered, are you? I mean, of course you’re not, because what kind of loser tries to pick girls up in a bookshop?” He was probably way older than her, too. Perv.
Dizzy paused, before perking up at the sound of Xianghua’s voice. “Mhm! I think I’ve got four.” Standing up, she watched as the young man with no taste in books suddenly scuttled off, mumbling something about ‘dumb girls’ and ‘crazy hens’. She hoped he found what he was looking for, because those seemed like odd topics to write a book about! “How about you? Did you find anything?”
Meanwhile, Undine yawned a little. ...Mmm, Dizzy, are you okay? I'm...sleepy.
Xianghua was about to pick up a rather heavy tome and use Tolkien’s windbag-ish-ness to good use by lobbing it at the back of the sulking idiot’s head, when Dizzy’s voice interrupted her. Forcing herself to calm somewhat, she smiled and shook her head. “Nah, but I wasn’t really looking. I have to admit, I’m not much of a reader myself… Anyway, let’s get those paid for, okay?” Before anyone else decided it would be fun to try and pick Dizzy up. …Or, well, her too, but she wasn’t really thinking about that for some reason.
“Right! Okay…Oh, there.” She walked to the counter, answering Undine’s question along the way. The inner voice replied by promptly going back to sleep, feeling Xianghua had things under control, and Necro was curled up in a corner taking a surprise nap as well. The cashier paused and spotted Dizzy’s selection, and smiled. “Good choices…wouldn’t take you for a Pratchett kind of girl, to be honest…” The cashier girl said it with a little more flirtatious tone than was expected, and looked like she was even going to ask Dizzy about talking about authors over coffee in a few moments. “Um, thank you…?”
Xianghua found herself wondering if it was ‘everyone hits on Dizzy’ day or something, and couldn’t help but to be annoyed by the idea. Sure, she was cute and all, but… she was so naïve. There had to be some law against hitting on someone as innocent as her. Aware that she was doing a really bad job at hiding her irritation, she snapped, “Um, could you just ring up the books so we can get out of here? Thanks.”
“Oh, sorry.” The cashier looked the pair over, coming to the conclusion that there was no way they were related, and the Asian was…pretty protective of the girl with the blue hair and those adorable ribbons…so, there was only one logical explanation! When she thought Xianghua wasn’t paying much attention, she joked a little with Dizzy (who didn’t get it) “Your girlfriend’s pretty touchy, you know?”
Dizzy blinked, and looked back at Xianghua. “…Girlfriend…? She’s…my…what?” She looked pleadingly at Xianghua, lost and confused as she put the money she owed on the counter.
Well, the cashier had been half-right. It took several moments for the entirety of what she had said to sink in, and by then Xianghua had already begun grumbling back a reply. “I’m not touchy, it’s just that-wait, WHAT?!” Xianghua felt her face begin to color for no particular reason at the prospect, and after a moment of fruitlessly attempting to reply, she stammered back, “I… we’re… We’re just friends, thanks! God, why would you assume… Do I look like a… aiyah.”
“Well, if you’re not touchy and you’re not her girlfriend, why’re you so…territorial?” The little slightly gothic cashier smirked at Xianghua, a look that said ‘Haha, you’re in denial so bad, aren’t you? :D?’ Dizzy, meanwhile blinked, took her books, shrugged at the pair, and started to leave. The cashier waved, while Dizzy paused by the door for Xianghua to catch up. “Um…I don’t know the way home that well, Xianghua, so…”
Xianghua’s cheeks flushed darker, and she just barely managed to squeak back, “I am not territorial!” Luckily for everyone involved, there was not a copy of one of Tolkien’s works lying around nearby, otherwise she probably would have given into her urge to wipe that look off the cashier’s face by force. Whirling around and marching away when Dizzy got her attention, she forced herself to smile at her. “Sorry! I didn’t really want to stick around anyway, so let’s go.”
Dizzy smiled and held the door for Xianghua as they walked out. She waited for the other girl to lead the way, before walking in step with her. She thought about the rest of the day, before realizing…she had the night off again. “Um…you work tonight, don’t you…?” She…really didn’t feel like being alone that night. There wasn’t anything on, ever, and she always wound up falling asleep when she read, and…she didn’t want to sleep, because of what she’d dream. She didn’t care for that man’s face…every night.
Dizzy’s smile helped Xianghua calm down a bit as she stepped outside with her and took the lead. At the question, though, she tilted her head as she looked at the other girl and gave her a quizzical look. “Hm? Yeah, I think I am… why?” She had the sneaking suspicion that she was about to be asked to stay home, and began to mentally compose a gentle rebuttal in case she was right about the coming request.
Her hopes dead, Dizzy bit her lower lip a little, before mumbling “Oh…nothing.” She didn’t want Xianghua to feel bad or anything. She had to go to work to help get enough money to keep them going, so she wasn’t going to be a bother…that’d be selfish…all she had to do was try and stay awake until Xianghua got home. When…ever that was. Again. She hadn’t slept in about two days, actually because of the nightmares, and her boss kept giving her nights off and she was tired. She managed to hide it though with a few shots of straight tea throughout the day when Xianghua wasn’t looking…she didn’t want her to worry…that’d be bad, right?
Despite the other girl’s words, Xianghua could tell that it obviously wasn’t ‘nothing,’ easily enough. “Hey, come on. You can tell me what’s up. What’s wrong?” Shooting her a concerned look, she slipped an arm up around Dizzy’s shoulders and gave her a comforting one-armed hug. She didn’t like seeing Dizzy upset! It was sort of like watching a puppy being kicked around.
Dizzy, despite being concerned about not being too much of a burden, simply caved at the other girl’s hug. “I…mmm…I don’t want to sleep and have the nightmares again. The boss keeps giving me nights off and I’m afraid to go to sleep without you there and I just…nod off and I see it, and…I’ve been drinking your tea to stay up and it’s weird to sleep in the day, and…” She paused for a second, to realize she’d been spewing off one long run-on sentence, before finding steadfast interest in her feet. “Katie won’t stop giving me nights off…I can’t sleep…don’t want to see him.”
“…Hey. It’s okay. I can call in and pretend to be sick to take the night off just this once, okay?” Wait a minute, why was she offering to do that? Wasn’t she supposed to be resolutely telling her no? Oh well. It would be okay, just this once. “I don’t think I can do anything about the nightmares, but I can be around if that makes you more comfortable getting some rest.” Releasing her grip around her shoulders, Xianghua reached out to tilt Dizzy’s head so she was looking her in the eye. “You really do need to try to get some sleep, you know. It’s not healthy otherwise.”
“No, you don’t have to. You need the money…” To be honest, she…kind of wanted Xianghua to take the night off as well, but she was trying to be logical about all this. She paused, before saying “It…does. But you shouldn’t…” It wasn’t until Xianghua took her head and forced eye-contact that she got…more withdrawn than usual. “I…I know. It’s…I don’t want to see it again. I don’t…and if I don’t sleep I won’t…” She left out the part about when Xianghua was close the nightmare’s seemed to sit back and wait, but she figured that was already stated.
“Hey, look. One night’s not going to be a big deal, okay? And… and it’ll just be tonight. Really.” She nodded to herself, more to reaffirm her own resolve than assure Dizzy about that particular point. She made a slight face as she noticed Dizzy withdraw slightly, but didn’t say anything. “Well, you still need to sleep. I don’t want you collapsing from exhaustion while you’re working or anything. And you just said me being around helps, right? So me taking the night off will be better for us both in the long run.” There. It made perfect sense!
It made no sense. But she kept saying it was alright, so…maybe it was? “I know I do...but…” …And that was that. She found that she couldn’t argue with her anymore, mostly because the caffeine kick she was on was ever so slowly starting to dive-bomb into a sleep-deprivation induced coma. “…I. Tired…” She yawned a little, before shaking her head to get her mind moving again. “I. Okay I. Guess…if you say so…”
“See? You need it. When we get back to the apartment, you can lay down and I’ll call in to work real quick, okay?” She flashed an encouraging smile at the other girl, mostly to hide her own concern. She felt like she had to stay upbeat for Dizzy’s sake in the face of what she was going through. Both of them being anxious and mopey just wouldn’t do anything but hurt her state of mind.
Dizzy’s brain was ever so slowly crashing down into itself, so the only reply she could manage was a light “M’kay…” She smiled back, not really knowing why she was smiling, or why Xianghua smiled in the first place. It was…confusing. “How…far to home…?” She normally…called it ‘the apartment,’ but…well, she’d been there for a little while hadn’t she? It made sense to call…well, home, home.
“We’re just about there. Try not to pass out before we make it back, okay?” Her tone was mostly teasing, but the barest hints of concern could be found if one listened hard enough. Xianghua took the other girl’s hand just to make sure she didn’t pass out on her face in the middle of the sidewalk, and quickened her pace as she led the other girl along back to the apartment building.
“I won’t…” She was trying to keep her body moving on sheer willpower, but for some reason once it started to shut down, she’d need something like a nuclear explosion to stop it. She almost absentmindedly mumbled something about it going to be cold again tonight, and that the landlord didn’t bother to call a repairman for the heater. Meanwhile, her body’s shutdown procedure managed to break down her ability to control herself, such as her sudden need to shiver, really hard, as her body’s complete lack of rest left her susceptible to a slight cold, leaving her with a decent fever. “C-c-cold…” She didn't even realize it until this moment that she was probably sick. Probably her "Just keep going" attitude the past few days towards...well, everything, including sleeping and health. If she sneezed, it could wait!
“Don’t worry, Dizzy. We’ll be home soon, and we’ll get you wrapped up in some nice blankets and put to bed. That sound good?” She frowned slightly as she spoke, though her tone had mostly drifted into the sort of humoring a nurse would use while only half-listening to what her patient had to say. Focusing on getting them back to the apartment rather than Dizzy’s condition was probably the intelligent thing to do at that moment.
…Speaking of which. “Here’s the building now. Come on, we’re almost back to our room,” she chirped, trying to sound encouraging as she led the other girl inside.
“Uh…huh…my head hurts…” It did, too, to the point where Dizzy almost closed her eyes to try and shut it out. The fever seemed to be drilling a hole in her brain in an attempt to get her attention and warn her that she was, probably, horribly sick. “Where do we keep the…tylenol?” Or something. And for that matter, where were Undine and Necro?
She briefly tuned into her inner voices…to hear snoring. Frowning, she realized she couldn’t see straight, due to the headache. “Aah!” It took her a moment to realize just how bad it all really was. "Feels like a hammer hitting my head..."
Xianghua bit her lip slightly in concern as she dragged the other girl along. “Don’t worry about it. I’ll grab it for you when we get back.” Pausing outside the door to their apartment when they reached it, she asked, “Do you think you can make it back to the bedroom on your own?” She didn’t want to let go of her only to have her collapse or something like that.
“Mm. Maybe. I should.” She winced at the sound of Xianghua’s voice and that of her own, before remembering, she couldn’t see which way was which, and when she did, she couldn’t move to them. Freeing herself of Xianghua’s grasp, she tried to open the door, only to fall to her knees and slam her eyes shut to prevent herself from puking from watching the door spin around and implode on itself at the same time. “Um. May. Maybe not…gonna be sick…”
Xianghua quickly opened the door herself, before falling into a crouch next to Dizzy, pulling one of the other girl’s arms over her shoulders with one hand, and sliding her other arm around Dizzy’s waist as she attempted to pull her back to her feet and make their way inside. Tone almost businesslike, she asked, “Okay. Put you down in the bathroom or the bedroom?”
Dizzy kept her eyes sealed shut, letting Xianghua pull her up, while trying to help get up at the same time. “Bedroom…” If she could lie down her stomach might settle, and she could probably pass out long before seeing anything made her want to barf again. “…Thank you…” She didn't know how else to put it, or show that she was...grateful for Xianghua keeping her from falling on her face, really.
“Got it,” she replied softly as she half-dragged Dizzy through the apartment and toward the bedroom. Upon reaching the bed, she attempted to set Dizzy down on it as gently as she could, before pulling the covers over her. “I’ll get you something for your head now, okay?”
Dizzy practically collapsed onto the bed once she felt it, and snuggled into the covers as they were pulled over her. She nodded quietly as Xianghua let her know what she was doing next, not really aware, as her brain, finding a place to rest, was already sending Dizzy off to sleep. “Okay, Xianghua…”
Retrieving the Tylenol and a glass of water for the other girl as quickly as she could, Xianghua came back to find the other girl… well, already more or less asleep. She paused next to the bed, debating whether or not she should just let her pass out and see how she was doing when she woke up. Biting her lip slightly, she finally spoke up with, “…Um, hey. You going to get up and take this, or should I just leave it for when you wake up..?”
She whined a little, before rolling and taking the medication from the other girl and drinking it down. “Mmm…thank you.” With that, her brain decided enough was enough, and to put her in the same place as the voices in her head. Not even having the energy to roll back over, she just…drifted off, facing Xianghua, into a seemingly peaceful sleep.
Despite the worry she was feeling over the other girl’s condition, she couldn’t help but to smile as Dizzy finally fell into a tranquil moment of rest. Almost shyly, she reached out to brush a bit of hair away from Dizzy’s face, before leaning forward and pressing a soft kiss to her temple.
Straightening up and feeling strangely awkward about the display of affection-it didn’t mean anything more than sisterly fondness, really!-that the other girl hadn’t even seen, Xianghua turned to find a phone.
When: Today?
Where: Their apartment, then a local bookstore.
Summary: Book shopping! Also scumbag-deterring.
…Wow, that was…quite an anticlimactic way to end it.
It sucked!
…Thank you, Necro. Undine let out a sigh, before Dizzy added in “I thought it wasn’t all bad…I mean, there were some good characters…and some…um…”
The plot was cookie-cutter, the random romantic interest was tacked on, and the world was so half-baked that it couldn’t immerse a lead weight! I reiterate, it sucked!
“…I have some money…I wonder if Xianghua would mind showing me a bookstore…” She could always use some more books around to eat up her time. She liked reading. It helped her relax, keep herself focused, make her think. She liked that. She looked around for Xianghua, and, failing, she said somewhat, but not quite loudly “Xianghua? Um, where are you?”
Xianghua hadn’t heard Dizzy, but the question was answered nonetheless-in the form of a loud clattering noise, as a remote control was hurled against a television screen hard. Xianghua had been unable to located anything watchable on television since the recent government announcement, and it was starting to get to her. She didn’t care about those stupid ghosts or whatever was running around! She hadn’t had to deal with them, ergo it didn’t affect her. Simple logic! Rolling off the couch, she moved to retrieve the controller from where it had bounced aside and landed, leaving both itself and the television screen miraculously unharmed. “Dizzy! Do you want to go out or something?” she yelled to… wherever the hell the other girl was located.
Is she getting violent at the television again? Undine asked.
Sounds like it.
Dizzy, however, now knew where her roommate was. She poked her head out of the bedroom she had taken up as her reading space, and slowly walked into the living room. “Um, I was actually going to ask you that…I need some books…if you know where to find them?” She smiled weakly and hopefully, part of her praying that Xianghua did, in fact, know of a really good bookstore. She had to, right? She had those other books…that were covered in dust, so Dizzy just felt like she should read them to make them feel good about themselves, instead of lonely and abandoned. That’s what you did, right?
“Hm? Books?” Xianghua looked up from the remote, which had been making an odd rattling sound as she shook it. Maybe it hadn’t come out of the impact as unscathed as she thought? Oh, well. Not like it mattered now! Tossing it carelessly onto the couch, she nodded. “Yeah, I have an idea where to get some. It’s not the best book store ever, but you should be able to find something there and it’s in the neighborhood.” If Xianghua was more of a reader, she would have whined about how it was a little whole in the wall with limited selection. However, she wasn’t, so it received the more rosy description.
“Okay! That sounds…great?” She was trying to get the hang of the thought to speech thing, with mild success. She walked over and grabbed the coat Xianghua had given her, zipping it all up (it was a little…tight, in certain areas) before deciding to hand Xianghua hers. “It’s a little cold out…” She hoped Xianghua didn’t think that Dizzy thought she couldn’t take care of herself or something, because she didn’t want that to happen and she wanted Xianghua to like her and not hate her and-
We have to do something about her thinking in circles as she goes.
Soon…
As it turned out, Dizzy had nothing to worry about-Xianghua just flashed her a smile and accepted the coat, throwing it on as she made her way to the door. “Thanks, Dizzy.” Pausing as she set one hand on the doorknob, she looked back over her shoulder at the other girl. “You all ready to go, or do you need to grab something before we leave?” She didn’t want to rush out if Dizzy wasn’t ready or something. That would be bad.
“No, I’m fine…” She had her wallet in the coat, and she was pretty sure she had enough money in there for something. Right? Right. She decided to wait for Xianghua to open the door to head out, since Undine just told her it’d be polite. “Um…Did you forget anything?”
“Nope! I’m good too.” Having determined that they were, in fact, good to go, she threw the door open and stepped outside, holding the door for Dizzy as well. “So, do you have anything in mind that we’re looking for, or just any old book?”
She walked out, and thought for a minute. “Um…No. Not really…Just hoping for something.”
That doesn’t suck! “Shhh…Um, you know any authors…?” Dizzy didn’t really keep track. “Or…maybe someone there knows…?” Although that involved talking to people, and that could end badly and painfully and end in embarrassment as well. So they might not do that, cus that’d be bad…
As they began walking, Xianghua attempted to pull the name of an author from memory. She failed miserably. “Mm… I can’t really think of any, but we should be able to find something if we browse around. It’s not a big place, so that shouldn’t be too hard to do, right? Or, yeah, we could ask someone that works there or something. S’what they’re there for, right?” ‘What they’re there for’ being ‘having terribly annoying customers bother them with questions,’ of course.
“Right. Um…lead the way…?” She was unsure, but Xianghua said it should be okay, so it should. Right? She hoped so. She didn’t want to be a bother to anybody…that’d be…bothersome? Bothersome. Yeah. That was bad. Meanwhile, she had to tune out her…other thirds.
I say she finds something violent! It might not suck!
She needs something on the lines of Charles Dickinson, Shakespeare, someone like that.
WHAT!? THEY SUCK!
Would you rather her read some trashy romance!?
Jesus Christ, no! Even I have standards!
Xianghua tilted her head at Dizzy, studying her for a moment. It didn’t sound like Dizzy was completely sold on what she was being told-and that was silly, because Xianghua wasn’t going to steer her wrong! It would be like telling a little kid to go play in a nuclear power plant. “Hey, don’t worry! I know where we’re going and what I’m talking about. We’ll find you something to read.”
“I. I didn’t say I didn’t trust you! I. um. I.” She blushed and looked down at her feet like a dog that just found out that digging up the flowerbed wasn’t a nice thing to do. “I. Sorry. Um…let’s go…” She stood there, hand on one arm in nervous gesture and waited for Xianghua to just…take her to the book store already.
“…Hey, stop that. I didn’t mean it like it was some big deal or anything.” Reaching out, she gently took one of Dizzy’s hands and began to tug her in the direction they needed to be going. Her face went a bit warm as she did this, for some reason or another-probably just embarrassment for making Dizzy feel bad when she hadn’t meant to. Yeah, that sounded about right. “Come on. This way.”
“…Oh. Okay. Sorry about…um, sorry?” She stopped her guilty puppy look, and assumed her look of total confusion and anxiety. It wasn’t until Xianghua took her hand did she just look confused, before smiling at the guidance. It pointed her in the right direction, towards where they wanted to go…so it’d probably be a good idea to make sure she didn’t loose it. She gave Xianghua’s hand a gentle squeeze, just to make sure it was still there, and would in fact, remain there.
Xianghua jumped a little at the squeeze, almost pulling her hand away on reflex. Ultimately, she didn’t, though-it was just a friendly gesture, right? Nothing to overreact about or anything. Right. Dizzy just felt comfortable being close to her, which… made her smile, for some reason. It was just nice to know they were close, or something like that. “I told you not to be sorry, silly.”
“Sor-mmh!” She almost apologized again, before catching herself. Xianghua just said not to be sorry, so she wouldn’t! That way they wouldn’t loop the argument. Right? Right. Okay. She was getting the hang of this.
Like hell you are…
Shh! She’s building self-esteem, you cynical jerk!
As they wound their way out of the building, she couldn’t help but notice the landlord and one of the tenets. One of the men from their apartment had the landlord…bent over, and was…doing something. She couldn’t figure it out.
…Oh my…god. Just. Oh my god.
Holy butt burglers, Batman! Wow, I figured he was gay, but I didn’t take him for a pillow biter!
SHUT UP NECRO, SHUT UP SHUT UP SHUT UP
Holy crap, I’m going to have trouble unseeing that.
Dizzy, meanwhile, blinked, before tugging at Xianghua and pointing at the pair who'd neglected to close the door. "Xianghua, what's the landlord doing?"
She followed Dizzy’s finger, did a double-take, and just… gaped, for lack of a better reaction. Her brain froze somewhere between ‘OH MY GOD I didn’t need to see that!’ and ‘Guy-on-guy action! Hawt!’, and ultimately just decided on horrible shame and embarrassment, since several parties in this equation seemed to be lacking it. “…They’re probably bargaining for rent or something!” She tried to force her voice to be cheerful and nonchalant since she didn’t want to explain to Dizzy in detail about what they were doing, but at the same time there was a noticeable grimace to her tone.
“…Okay?” She just noticed the horrible cries of her inner voices, but decided it was probably best not to ask, since they didn’t seem to want to explain. With that, Dizzy took the lead since Xianghua seemed totally frozen in place. “Well, we’d better let them negotiate in peace then…it’d be rude to interrupt negotiations.”
…Did…she…just…
Yeah, she did. She somehow managed to sound like she knew what they’re doing without…actually…gah. Necro felt like he had a migraine.
Ignorance is bliss….
Dizzy, of course, had tuned them out since they weren’t addressing her specifically. She found it made things easier.
We heard that!
“…Yeah. That’d be… bad.” And really really embarrassing, but she didn’t want to risk Dizzy asking her why so she didn’t mention it. “Though they should have closed the door if they really wanted privacy…” She sighed. No consideration about the consequences at all! Well, boys would be boys, she supposed, even when they were bending other guys over coffee tables.
“And embarrassing. I don’t think the other tenants want everyone to know what they’re paying, do they?” She looked back at Xianghua with a look that simply screamed complete, total innocence.
She’s doing it again! How is she doing it so well!?
Ignorance, once again, is bliss….
Dizzy again ignored them completely and smiled at Xianghua as they went down the stairs towards the front door. “Um, maybe you should take lead again…?”
Xianghua had to laugh at that. She was pretty much positive Dizzy had no idea what was going on, which made her words that much more amusing. “No, it’d be terrible for them if the rest of the building knew about that. Oh well. It’ll be their fault if everyone else finds out, right?”
As they exited the building, Xianghua seemed to have completely regained her wits. Nodding, she grinned and replied, “Yeah, sorry about that. I was just a little surprised to catch that on the way down, you know?”
“I suppose…” She shrugged. Meanwhile, Necro rubbed his hands and Undine shook her head.
No, we can’t blackmail her landlord!
But we could practically get the room for nothing! Think about it! He wouldn’t want the whole building to know he bites the pillow for rent!
…You…have a point. Hmm. I have an idea.
Dizzy paused and listened to Undine for a moment, before saying “He probably really wouldn’t want that going around, the landlord I mean…” Undine smiled a rather…devious smile inside Dizzy’s head.
Now we let she who is with more sinful a mind do the dirty work.
Ah, a girl after my own heart!
“Nope! I’m… pretty sure it’s technically illegal to accept that sort of thing instead of money. He could really get in trouble!” She briefly considered using this as leverage against him, but disregarded that plan of action… well, until they were late for a payment or something. After all, blackmail was illegal too, so she would like to have a good reason to do it. It let her keep some sort of moral high ground.
Dizzy didn’t quite get why he’d get in trouble, but Undine told her to let it go. Undine was usually right, so she did. “Right! Um…Where’s the bookstore now?” She was curious, so she’d know for later if she ever wanted to go and find it on her own, when Xianghua was tired and needed a nap, or Dizzy had a night off and Xianghua didn’t. Which seemed to be happening a lot lately. The boss said something about her 'bleeding the other girls dry.'
“Um… A couple of blocks this way,” she replied as she led Dizzy in the appropriate direction. “It’s really not far from the apartment at all. Of course, it’s also the only one anywhere near here, but…” Well, there was only so much one could do about location. At least it meant Dizzy wouldn’t have to go to far to get to it if she went by herself, since Xianghua didn’t totally trust her to handle herself yet. She couldn’t help but to feel strangely… protective of the other girl, for some reason.
“That’s good…it’s better than it being five streets down, right…?” She smiled, while letting Xianghua lead her along. She paused a moment or two, before asking “Xianghua…why does the boss give me more days off than you? Am I doing a bad job, or…?” Was ‘bleeding the others out’ a bad thing? She didn’t want to do a bad job, she could get fired for it and that would be really really bad because she couldn’t pay for her rent. Or save lonely books.
“Yeah, I guess so.” She grinned a bit, before Dizzy asked her other question. Her smile faded, and for a moment she just sort of… blinked at her. “Hm? Of course you’re not doing a bad job! It’s just that… well, you get more tips than some of the other girls, so you don’t need to work as often!” She really did wish their boss would hurry up and hire some other girls to fill positions on the extra nights Dizzy had off, though. She was getting tired of having to help fill in for other girls in addition to her usual dance routines.
“Oh…that’s all?” So…she was doing a really good job and she got days off so the other girls could catch up? That…wasn’t all too bad, right? Right! She nodded to herself and smiled a little, before realizing, that being so good at the job might make the other girls jealous and not like her…like most of them did. She frowned a little, and murmured “…None of them like me, though…” Their customers did, but all the other girls just…glared at her when she walked past. It was...upsetting.
Xianghua just sighed, before giving Dizzy’s hand a little comforting squeeze. “Well, that’s their problem, isn’t it? Not everyone has to like you, Dizzy, and if they want to not like you over something like that it’s their problem. You’re really sweet and they’re missing out.” She, of course, was probably being a huge hypocrite, considering she tended to act similarly to cute girls. Not that she thought they were cute, but guys did and that meant they were competition!
She paused as her guide gave her hand a squeeze, before smiling slightly and nodding. “Um, yeah, I guess so…” Although she’d like it if everybody did. It’d make things easier, and…well, people would like her. That was always good, right? And you wanted good things to happen to you! If people didn’t like you, they’d do bad things to you…so you got them to like you! Simple…right?
Xianghua, for her part, absolutely beamed. “It’s good that have friends, but not everybody’s… well, not everybody’s worth being friends with, and those kind of girls obviously aren’t. Besides, I can be friendly enough to make up for them not liking you, right?” Because, as far as she was concerned, Dizzy was her friend, and that meant she would have to keep her from feeling upset about anything at all costs.
“If you say so…” She smiled a bit, before Xianghua asked her other question. Dizzy had to blink a bit and think, before she could rationally come up with any sort of answer. How…did you quantify something like that? Xianghua had been really nice to her, though, more than she had any reason to…so…she guessed it might’ve…? “Um…I guess so…I mean…you’ve been…really nice to me…”
“Unless you aren’t happy about something.” She frowned slightly at the thought, before continuing, “You aren’t, though, right? I mean, at least not about anything I have control over.” In the process of thinking this over, she had almost missed the bookstore they were supposed to be stopping at-almost, as she suddenly realized this slip up after they had passed the door by about three feet. Half turning and dragging Dizzy back the other way, she grinned ruefully and chirped an apologetic, “Oops! Almost missed the bookstore.”
“No, no, no, I’m not! I’m…glad you do this for me…” She was trying to find some way to word her appreciation, but simply failed miserably. She was almost about to ask Xianghua if the bookstore was that thing they were walking by, when she pulled a one-eighty and dragged them into it. “Oh! Um, okay…it doesn’t look very busy…or…um, clean.”
Xianghua giggled slightly as Dizzy attempted to voice what she was feeling, and beamed a little bit as well. She was just so cute, she could practically kiss her! …If she wasn’t totally straight, anyway. At Dizzy’s observation, Xianghua just shrugged. “Well, it’s not really a lot better or worse than a lot of places here, you know? Some parts of the city just aren’t very well taken care of.”
She paused, before looking into the store window. “…It’s all dusty…the books’ll be dusty and lonely…” Her face took on a look of…determination. Taking the lead, she practically barged into the store and began her hunt. She had enough money on her to probably get at least four books, so she had to choose wisely which ones to rescue from this retail hell!
Xianghua was about to point out the she didn’t think books could be lonely, when Dizzy’s expression twisted into one of resolve. How could she say anything to that face? Dizzy was just… adorable sometimes. Pulling her hand out of the other girl’s as they entered the store, she stood back to watch her root around the shelves for a suitable bounty.
Dizzy took about four seconds to close in on a shelf and kneel down and work from the bottom up, glazing over names, titles, occasionally plucking one out and scanning the back cover of the paperbacks. She took a few minutes to sort through which ones were trustworthy and which ones were dirty liars that held only a boring tale beneath their covers, but she managed to pull out one by a man named Pratchett, some Hitchhiker’s guide, and a few other books that looked lost and confused.
It was then that a young man around twenty-five spotted Dizzy, and couldn’t help but notice the striking blue hair. Always a sign for an…easy time, right? He strolled up and kneeled down next to her, pointing out a book she decided wasn’t worth it. “You know, that one’s worth the read.”
Dizzy paused, blinked at him, then said “No…it’s too boring. Reads too deep, doesn’t know a story.”
The young man blinked in bemusement. Normally that line got small-talk going. She. What? …Maybe if he tried again? “…Well, I know this one’s really good. Excellent author.”
“…He’s a windbag. Takes to long to get to the point. I liked the one about the little man with the ring, though…”
As the man approached Dizzy and attempted to strike up conversation, Xianghua had to fight the incomprehensible desire to march up to him and punch him squarely in the nose. She wasn’t entirely sure why that was the dominant urge she had, but it was definitely there. Maybe she just wasn’t used to guys ignoring her in favor of someone else. Yeah, that had to be it! Never mind that her annoyance was directed at him rather than Dizzy.
She wasn’t going to do anything about it just yet, though. He’d probably get bored with her quick enough, seeing as she didn’t really know how to respond to the kind of attention she was being given, and Xianghua didn’t want to start any sort of scene if she could avoid it. However, she did take a few steps closer, ready to intervene if he tried anything else. After all, friends didn’t let friends get harassed by sleazeballs, even if they were stealing attention from them.
“Well, what’s wrong with Tolkien? He’s vivid, he works well, his books are legendary!”
“He’s a windbag. He talks too much about the trees, and the land, not enough about the people and their personalities.”
“I guess. What about this one?” He pointed out another of prospective favorites, in hope of…some common light. Something to give him brownie points!
He should have learned not to hope.
“…Boring.”
“…Are there any books you do like?”
“I think so. Just none that you’ve suggested. You’re not very good at this, you know…you rescue bully books.”
He had no idea what she meant, but, she was…fascinating. “…you know, I’d love to discuss this more over, say, coffee?”
…Okay, so much for hoping he’d just leave her alone. It was time to get Dizzy away from him. Moving to officially put herself in talking range, she reached out to touch Dizzy’s arm to make sure she had her attention. “Dizzy, are you almost done? I’d really like to get back to our apartment soon.” This was punctuated by her giving the man a rather pointed look. “You’re not being… bothered, are you? I mean, of course you’re not, because what kind of loser tries to pick girls up in a bookshop?” He was probably way older than her, too. Perv.
Dizzy paused, before perking up at the sound of Xianghua’s voice. “Mhm! I think I’ve got four.” Standing up, she watched as the young man with no taste in books suddenly scuttled off, mumbling something about ‘dumb girls’ and ‘crazy hens’. She hoped he found what he was looking for, because those seemed like odd topics to write a book about! “How about you? Did you find anything?”
Meanwhile, Undine yawned a little. ...Mmm, Dizzy, are you okay? I'm...sleepy.
Xianghua was about to pick up a rather heavy tome and use Tolkien’s windbag-ish-ness to good use by lobbing it at the back of the sulking idiot’s head, when Dizzy’s voice interrupted her. Forcing herself to calm somewhat, she smiled and shook her head. “Nah, but I wasn’t really looking. I have to admit, I’m not much of a reader myself… Anyway, let’s get those paid for, okay?” Before anyone else decided it would be fun to try and pick Dizzy up. …Or, well, her too, but she wasn’t really thinking about that for some reason.
“Right! Okay…Oh, there.” She walked to the counter, answering Undine’s question along the way. The inner voice replied by promptly going back to sleep, feeling Xianghua had things under control, and Necro was curled up in a corner taking a surprise nap as well. The cashier paused and spotted Dizzy’s selection, and smiled. “Good choices…wouldn’t take you for a Pratchett kind of girl, to be honest…” The cashier girl said it with a little more flirtatious tone than was expected, and looked like she was even going to ask Dizzy about talking about authors over coffee in a few moments. “Um, thank you…?”
Xianghua found herself wondering if it was ‘everyone hits on Dizzy’ day or something, and couldn’t help but to be annoyed by the idea. Sure, she was cute and all, but… she was so naïve. There had to be some law against hitting on someone as innocent as her. Aware that she was doing a really bad job at hiding her irritation, she snapped, “Um, could you just ring up the books so we can get out of here? Thanks.”
“Oh, sorry.” The cashier looked the pair over, coming to the conclusion that there was no way they were related, and the Asian was…pretty protective of the girl with the blue hair and those adorable ribbons…so, there was only one logical explanation! When she thought Xianghua wasn’t paying much attention, she joked a little with Dizzy (who didn’t get it) “Your girlfriend’s pretty touchy, you know?”
Dizzy blinked, and looked back at Xianghua. “…Girlfriend…? She’s…my…what?” She looked pleadingly at Xianghua, lost and confused as she put the money she owed on the counter.
Well, the cashier had been half-right. It took several moments for the entirety of what she had said to sink in, and by then Xianghua had already begun grumbling back a reply. “I’m not touchy, it’s just that-wait, WHAT?!” Xianghua felt her face begin to color for no particular reason at the prospect, and after a moment of fruitlessly attempting to reply, she stammered back, “I… we’re… We’re just friends, thanks! God, why would you assume… Do I look like a… aiyah.”
“Well, if you’re not touchy and you’re not her girlfriend, why’re you so…territorial?” The little slightly gothic cashier smirked at Xianghua, a look that said ‘Haha, you’re in denial so bad, aren’t you? :D?’ Dizzy, meanwhile blinked, took her books, shrugged at the pair, and started to leave. The cashier waved, while Dizzy paused by the door for Xianghua to catch up. “Um…I don’t know the way home that well, Xianghua, so…”
Xianghua’s cheeks flushed darker, and she just barely managed to squeak back, “I am not territorial!” Luckily for everyone involved, there was not a copy of one of Tolkien’s works lying around nearby, otherwise she probably would have given into her urge to wipe that look off the cashier’s face by force. Whirling around and marching away when Dizzy got her attention, she forced herself to smile at her. “Sorry! I didn’t really want to stick around anyway, so let’s go.”
Dizzy smiled and held the door for Xianghua as they walked out. She waited for the other girl to lead the way, before walking in step with her. She thought about the rest of the day, before realizing…she had the night off again. “Um…you work tonight, don’t you…?” She…really didn’t feel like being alone that night. There wasn’t anything on, ever, and she always wound up falling asleep when she read, and…she didn’t want to sleep, because of what she’d dream. She didn’t care for that man’s face…every night.
Dizzy’s smile helped Xianghua calm down a bit as she stepped outside with her and took the lead. At the question, though, she tilted her head as she looked at the other girl and gave her a quizzical look. “Hm? Yeah, I think I am… why?” She had the sneaking suspicion that she was about to be asked to stay home, and began to mentally compose a gentle rebuttal in case she was right about the coming request.
Her hopes dead, Dizzy bit her lower lip a little, before mumbling “Oh…nothing.” She didn’t want Xianghua to feel bad or anything. She had to go to work to help get enough money to keep them going, so she wasn’t going to be a bother…that’d be selfish…all she had to do was try and stay awake until Xianghua got home. When…ever that was. Again. She hadn’t slept in about two days, actually because of the nightmares, and her boss kept giving her nights off and she was tired. She managed to hide it though with a few shots of straight tea throughout the day when Xianghua wasn’t looking…she didn’t want her to worry…that’d be bad, right?
Despite the other girl’s words, Xianghua could tell that it obviously wasn’t ‘nothing,’ easily enough. “Hey, come on. You can tell me what’s up. What’s wrong?” Shooting her a concerned look, she slipped an arm up around Dizzy’s shoulders and gave her a comforting one-armed hug. She didn’t like seeing Dizzy upset! It was sort of like watching a puppy being kicked around.
Dizzy, despite being concerned about not being too much of a burden, simply caved at the other girl’s hug. “I…mmm…I don’t want to sleep and have the nightmares again. The boss keeps giving me nights off and I’m afraid to go to sleep without you there and I just…nod off and I see it, and…I’ve been drinking your tea to stay up and it’s weird to sleep in the day, and…” She paused for a second, to realize she’d been spewing off one long run-on sentence, before finding steadfast interest in her feet. “Katie won’t stop giving me nights off…I can’t sleep…don’t want to see him.”
“…Hey. It’s okay. I can call in and pretend to be sick to take the night off just this once, okay?” Wait a minute, why was she offering to do that? Wasn’t she supposed to be resolutely telling her no? Oh well. It would be okay, just this once. “I don’t think I can do anything about the nightmares, but I can be around if that makes you more comfortable getting some rest.” Releasing her grip around her shoulders, Xianghua reached out to tilt Dizzy’s head so she was looking her in the eye. “You really do need to try to get some sleep, you know. It’s not healthy otherwise.”
“No, you don’t have to. You need the money…” To be honest, she…kind of wanted Xianghua to take the night off as well, but she was trying to be logical about all this. She paused, before saying “It…does. But you shouldn’t…” It wasn’t until Xianghua took her head and forced eye-contact that she got…more withdrawn than usual. “I…I know. It’s…I don’t want to see it again. I don’t…and if I don’t sleep I won’t…” She left out the part about when Xianghua was close the nightmare’s seemed to sit back and wait, but she figured that was already stated.
“Hey, look. One night’s not going to be a big deal, okay? And… and it’ll just be tonight. Really.” She nodded to herself, more to reaffirm her own resolve than assure Dizzy about that particular point. She made a slight face as she noticed Dizzy withdraw slightly, but didn’t say anything. “Well, you still need to sleep. I don’t want you collapsing from exhaustion while you’re working or anything. And you just said me being around helps, right? So me taking the night off will be better for us both in the long run.” There. It made perfect sense!
It made no sense. But she kept saying it was alright, so…maybe it was? “I know I do...but…” …And that was that. She found that she couldn’t argue with her anymore, mostly because the caffeine kick she was on was ever so slowly starting to dive-bomb into a sleep-deprivation induced coma. “…I. Tired…” She yawned a little, before shaking her head to get her mind moving again. “I. Okay I. Guess…if you say so…”
“See? You need it. When we get back to the apartment, you can lay down and I’ll call in to work real quick, okay?” She flashed an encouraging smile at the other girl, mostly to hide her own concern. She felt like she had to stay upbeat for Dizzy’s sake in the face of what she was going through. Both of them being anxious and mopey just wouldn’t do anything but hurt her state of mind.
Dizzy’s brain was ever so slowly crashing down into itself, so the only reply she could manage was a light “M’kay…” She smiled back, not really knowing why she was smiling, or why Xianghua smiled in the first place. It was…confusing. “How…far to home…?” She normally…called it ‘the apartment,’ but…well, she’d been there for a little while hadn’t she? It made sense to call…well, home, home.
“We’re just about there. Try not to pass out before we make it back, okay?” Her tone was mostly teasing, but the barest hints of concern could be found if one listened hard enough. Xianghua took the other girl’s hand just to make sure she didn’t pass out on her face in the middle of the sidewalk, and quickened her pace as she led the other girl along back to the apartment building.
“I won’t…” She was trying to keep her body moving on sheer willpower, but for some reason once it started to shut down, she’d need something like a nuclear explosion to stop it. She almost absentmindedly mumbled something about it going to be cold again tonight, and that the landlord didn’t bother to call a repairman for the heater. Meanwhile, her body’s shutdown procedure managed to break down her ability to control herself, such as her sudden need to shiver, really hard, as her body’s complete lack of rest left her susceptible to a slight cold, leaving her with a decent fever. “C-c-cold…” She didn't even realize it until this moment that she was probably sick. Probably her "Just keep going" attitude the past few days towards...well, everything, including sleeping and health. If she sneezed, it could wait!
“Don’t worry, Dizzy. We’ll be home soon, and we’ll get you wrapped up in some nice blankets and put to bed. That sound good?” She frowned slightly as she spoke, though her tone had mostly drifted into the sort of humoring a nurse would use while only half-listening to what her patient had to say. Focusing on getting them back to the apartment rather than Dizzy’s condition was probably the intelligent thing to do at that moment.
…Speaking of which. “Here’s the building now. Come on, we’re almost back to our room,” she chirped, trying to sound encouraging as she led the other girl inside.
“Uh…huh…my head hurts…” It did, too, to the point where Dizzy almost closed her eyes to try and shut it out. The fever seemed to be drilling a hole in her brain in an attempt to get her attention and warn her that she was, probably, horribly sick. “Where do we keep the…tylenol?” Or something. And for that matter, where were Undine and Necro?
She briefly tuned into her inner voices…to hear snoring. Frowning, she realized she couldn’t see straight, due to the headache. “Aah!” It took her a moment to realize just how bad it all really was. "Feels like a hammer hitting my head..."
Xianghua bit her lip slightly in concern as she dragged the other girl along. “Don’t worry about it. I’ll grab it for you when we get back.” Pausing outside the door to their apartment when they reached it, she asked, “Do you think you can make it back to the bedroom on your own?” She didn’t want to let go of her only to have her collapse or something like that.
“Mm. Maybe. I should.” She winced at the sound of Xianghua’s voice and that of her own, before remembering, she couldn’t see which way was which, and when she did, she couldn’t move to them. Freeing herself of Xianghua’s grasp, she tried to open the door, only to fall to her knees and slam her eyes shut to prevent herself from puking from watching the door spin around and implode on itself at the same time. “Um. May. Maybe not…gonna be sick…”
Xianghua quickly opened the door herself, before falling into a crouch next to Dizzy, pulling one of the other girl’s arms over her shoulders with one hand, and sliding her other arm around Dizzy’s waist as she attempted to pull her back to her feet and make their way inside. Tone almost businesslike, she asked, “Okay. Put you down in the bathroom or the bedroom?”
Dizzy kept her eyes sealed shut, letting Xianghua pull her up, while trying to help get up at the same time. “Bedroom…” If she could lie down her stomach might settle, and she could probably pass out long before seeing anything made her want to barf again. “…Thank you…” She didn't know how else to put it, or show that she was...grateful for Xianghua keeping her from falling on her face, really.
“Got it,” she replied softly as she half-dragged Dizzy through the apartment and toward the bedroom. Upon reaching the bed, she attempted to set Dizzy down on it as gently as she could, before pulling the covers over her. “I’ll get you something for your head now, okay?”
Dizzy practically collapsed onto the bed once she felt it, and snuggled into the covers as they were pulled over her. She nodded quietly as Xianghua let her know what she was doing next, not really aware, as her brain, finding a place to rest, was already sending Dizzy off to sleep. “Okay, Xianghua…”
Retrieving the Tylenol and a glass of water for the other girl as quickly as she could, Xianghua came back to find the other girl… well, already more or less asleep. She paused next to the bed, debating whether or not she should just let her pass out and see how she was doing when she woke up. Biting her lip slightly, she finally spoke up with, “…Um, hey. You going to get up and take this, or should I just leave it for when you wake up..?”
She whined a little, before rolling and taking the medication from the other girl and drinking it down. “Mmm…thank you.” With that, her brain decided enough was enough, and to put her in the same place as the voices in her head. Not even having the energy to roll back over, she just…drifted off, facing Xianghua, into a seemingly peaceful sleep.
Despite the worry she was feeling over the other girl’s condition, she couldn’t help but to smile as Dizzy finally fell into a tranquil moment of rest. Almost shyly, she reached out to brush a bit of hair away from Dizzy’s face, before leaning forward and pressing a soft kiss to her temple.
Straightening up and feeling strangely awkward about the display of affection-it didn’t mean anything more than sisterly fondness, really!-that the other girl hadn’t even seen, Xianghua turned to find a phone.