Thirty-Eighth Drop: emo vodka (video/actionpost)

[spiritofsorrow]

[Sorrow is sitting in a corner of the Blue Light bar, drinking vodka. Straight vodka. He stopped by the Welcome Center earlier, but still, it wasn't enough to calm his mind. He didn't want to get drunk in front of Penny, and this wasn't usually his way of dealing with things, but...right now, he didn't want to think about it, and his Russian

Comments

audio

[o_tea_p]

I think you have had enough spirits. But I would be glad to join you in a cup of tea.

audio

[spiritofsorrow]

This is a cultural, [he pauses; he's clearly drunk], a cultural way of dealing with the world. Soviet.

Tea. Tea won't help. You can't know, can't...

audio

[o_tea_p]

I know better than you might think. My world is torn apart by war, and I am to blame. But my son was the one to pay the price. Liquor won't change that.

audio

[spiritofsorrow]

...I don't even know where my son is. Born on the field...stolen away. During a war like that.

Tea, yes. Where? I'll tell you more.

audio

[o_tea_p]

That is terrible.

Where are you? I can make tea anywhere.

Re: audio

[spiritofsorrow]

...Not here. I'll go somewhere. I'll go to Penny's place. The Center. Don't worry; I won't fall over on the way there.

action;

[o_tea_p]

[Iroh carefully packed a small teapot and a selection of his best teas into a basket and left the tea shop in his nephew's capable hands. He was concerned about Sorrow, and curious as to the story the other man had to tell.

He hurried to the Welcome Center.]

action;

[spiritofsorrow]

[Sorrow is a surprisingly sober-looking drunk; he just walks very slowly and tends to stare into the ether. He's a little stumbly as he makes his way back, but he doesn't try anything rash like actually running, so he takes his time and gets there in a reasonable state.

Iroh was there when he arrived, sitting in one of the chairs with a teapot nearby.

He had to remind himself why he was here again, then closed his eyes and sighed through his nose. Yes. Because he had to do something, tell someone. Figure something out. Usually he was a paragon of calm and stability...not right now, not really. Calm gave way to hollow...]

You pried a Russian away from his vodka. A difficult task.

[The words are joyless as he sits down across from Iroh.]

...Probably for the better.

action;

[o_tea_p]

[Iroh watches the other man sit. It was good that he was such a sober drunk; he didn't want to use force on his new friend. He poured Sorrow a cup of tea, gently blowing across the surface to heat it up again, and pushes it towards him.]

So it seems.

[He gives Sorrow a moment to settle himself before speaking again.]

So you have a story to share.

Re: action;

[spiritofsorrow]

Which one? [Sorrow takes the cup, hovers over it a moment, and stares at his dim reflection on the surface. He bares his teeth just a little, enough to see the fangs. His Russian accent slips through now and then, as the vodka dulls his mind.]

I am a soldier. Not like your world's, but I am. We were the best -- special ops -- secret missions. Most of the civilized world was at war, and some of us were different. Six of us. We were a squad, and we did the impossible.

I can speak to the dead. You can imagine how this helps during war. Dead men often don't have allegiances, not anymore. So I gathered information, and I was stealth, and I hate killing. I will do it. But I hate it.

And now there is this.

[He offers a weak smile, but his white lips part enough to show elongated canine teeth. His breath smells like alcohol -- and iron.]

You have heard of -- a vampire?

action;

[o_tea_p]

[Iroh listens to the other man describe his war, his soldiers, and his own world with an impassive expression.

He finds it hard to believe that the dead do not keep their allegiances. In his world, your nationality was a fundamental part of who you were. Perhaps Sorrow's war was different.

Iroh's eyes widen only a little at the sight of the fangs.]

I've heard a thing or two. You drink blood and burn in sunlight, correct?

action;

[spiritofsorrow]

I already burn in sunlight -- albino. I am even more sensitive in the sun now, but the drinking blood is the part that bothers me.

We don't have vampires in my world. I was turned here. One of them bit me, and if that happens, you become one. And since my main food is blood now, if I don't have it, I start losing my mind. Starve a person enough, they go insane, start eating everything in sight...

[He pressed his hand to his forehead, rubbing at his temples.]

I went from being a spirit in my world, to having a body here, to now killing others just so I can live. I've already killed two...but the difference is, I can hear them scream after they die. Their ghosts are angry, confused, desperate, want to come back. It wasn't their time.

I can't do this anymore, but I don't even think now. It's harder to go without blood. Harder to keep my mind together. I was once an example of restraint, and calm. What am I now but a beast?

[He glances at the tea -- it isn't really that satisfying, except psychologically -- and drinks it anyway.]

action;

[o_tea_p]

[This was not the story Iroh had been expecting. His sips his tea and ponders deeply.]

Forgive me, I do not know much about your condition, but do you have to drink all of a person's blood? I am a poor example of restraint --

[He pats his potbelly with a small, ironic smile]

-- but if food is put on my plate, I do not have to eat all of it.

action;

[spiritofsorrow]

[Sorrow leans back in the chair. Yes, he has thought of that. But, it's...]

Compromise, [the word comes out of thin air as he finishes the thought out loud,] and I know that I and the other will suffer more damage if I allow myself to go about like a predator simply yanking men off the street, taking what I want, and leaving them hurt and bleeding. Most citizens will fight back. It is needless pain and struggle for all sides, and it makes me feel like a complete barbarian. That is no way for a man to live, and perhaps if I try harder, I will be able to slow myself...so I try to fight it as long as I can -- and then it drowns me.

[He listens to what he just said, repeats it in his mind. It sounds absurd, really.]

I'm just trading one evil for another, aren't I? I suppose I am supposed to be a wise old man, some kind of ghostly guide...and I was, for a while. But I would much appreciate it if you had any suggestion. This is alien, and not at all like anything I once knew.

action;

[o_tea_p]

[Iroh nods.]

You have my sympathies. Were I in your shoes, I would be lost as well.

[He stares into his teacup and his reflection in the brew. A wise old man. He has played the part many times before, but in the face of Sorrow's difficulties, finds that he is ignorant.

But there is always a proverb.]

The art of teaching is assisting discovery. Perhaps I am not the one you should speak with. Are there other vampires you can turn to for guidance?

action;

[spiritofsorrow]

[He takes a long, deep breath, and sighs heavily.]

Back to Rip van Winkle, then...yes, she keeps trying to teach me. But she is evil, Iroh. She rejoices in what she does. I refuse to do so.

[He swirls the last of his tea in a little circle at the bottom of the cup.]

I want a way to undo this. If I cannot, I will go your route. If I can, that is ideal.