trans_9 | Katzenjammer [Open]

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Katzenjammer [Open]

Aside from the comatose state she reached after Cassie finished her post-exorcism first-aid, sleep hasn't come easily to Eva since the possession. What little she's gotten has been interspersed with nightmares, so it's while all the Animorphs are sleeping that she slips out of Cassie's house and finds herself at the Drunken Dragon.

It's all too much. Too much going through her head and too much space alone in there. When she woke up it was because she was thrashing in her sleep and accidentally smacked her head into the bedpost. She found that she was clawing at her scalp while she dreamed.

She needs to feel a little bit out of control again, by her own doing, because that means less control that other people can take away from her. And she needs to dull the knowledge of how many bad memories she dredged up for Marco by going and getting herself possessed.

"Wine. Whatever you have. Keep it coming," she says, then, as if clarification is necessary, "I'm going to get drunk."

(( OOC: Open post but since Eva's going to be bemoaning the state of everything everywhere, please poke me first if you want to throw a character she's never met before at her. ))

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"Most people don't know about the other thing, they just know about the demon. Unless you've been telling everyone you meet, which I highly doubt," Kang took a drink of his ale, recognizing a good amount of those curses.

"He was smart enough to purge his most powerful spells before it took complete control. Otherwise, we would have been screwed, and he would have dispeled my own magic with barely any effort," his wings rustled. "It got Kaylee, too, for a bit."

"Marco and his friends. You. Katara. Anyone Katara might have told and I certainly hope she hasn't been spreading it around. Sam Henderson. Iniss. Dani Phantom. Anyone any of them have told. Far too many people." She pinches the bridge of her nose before taking another drink. "Word gets around."

"Kaylee? I don't think I know her."

Kang muttered a curse himself, in his own language. "I don't think Katara's really the type, but I don't know much about some of the others you mentioned. I hope not, for your sake and theirs."

Surprised, he tilted his head to one side slightly, with an obviously fond smile, "You haven't met her here yet? If the place is open and I'm somewhere else, she takes care of things. She's been a huge help."

She groans. "I'm going to have to track that child down and offer her an apology. I said some pretty hateful things to her and Marco sometimes gets angry when he's scared." She bites her lip again and averts her eyes, failing to hide on her face how upset she is that Marco had to know his mother was under another's control yet again.

"Well, if she has your approval, I'd like to meet her. I'm sorry she wound up involved in that whole mess. How's she holding up?"

"I can't say I blame him this time, even if I thought he was a bit harsh with her," Kang shook his head, definitely noticing that look.

He hesitated for a moment, "She's fine. She was pretty shaken up for a bit, but she's a strong girl. I can almost guarantee that after a few days, she'll be all smiles again."

"It's a loaded situation," she says softly, staring into the jug again. "I hoped he wouldn't find out. I don't know how I thought I would have kept up that sort of ruse, but I try to be a good mother, and all I ever seem to do these days is give him something to worry over and stress about. And he deserves some calm."

"That's good. We could always use more happy people on this traveling psych ward."

Kang was silent for a moment before carefully speaking, "It probably would have been worse if you had tried to hide it from him. He's very protective of you, and vice versa, and I don't think he'd take his mother lying to him very well, given your history."

Nodding, he held back a snort, "That we could. A morale boost, if nothing else."

"No, I know. For obvious reasons trust in something in short supply for our family. It doesn't matter anyway, since he arrived shortly after the exorcism." And doesn't that make her feel like the subject of a horror movie. Another drink for Linda Blair, please. "But there's a lot that happened during the war that he doesn't know, that I hope he never does. And I'm sure the same goes for me. It's the last thing I can do to minimize the damage, Kang, after all of it's over and buried."

She smiles faintly. "We really are a melancholy crew, aren't we?"

"The thing about trust is, it can be built up again, with time. Hard to get it from him, because his whole group is rife with paranoia, but not impossible," Kang resisted the urge to roll his eyes.

"Not all the time, luckily. We need some sort of party soon, I think, to lift people's spirits."

"They're paranoid for a reason. What other response can you have when the people who look and sound like your family members are secretly taking over the world?" She rolls her eyes a bit at how ridiculous that sounds, even if it's true. "I think Valentine's day is coming up, for those who celebrate it. Might be an excuse for an occasion. You and I could be wallflowers and complain about how none of the good spouses have popped yet."

"Oh, I know. And war in general tends to make a person at least a little paranoid." Kang knew this from experience.

At the mention of Valentine's Day, his scales clicked slightly and his wings rustled; he had to push down false memories, and the worry over his mate's status that was constantly there. "...I don't know about that one."

"You know, there was a time he never remembered to lock the doors," she says sadly. "When he was younger."

She realizes what she said and looks immediately apologetic. "I'm sorry, Kang. I must be letting the alcohol get my tongue loose. I didn't mean..."

Kang reached out and lightly squeezed her arm, not sure what to say to that.

He shook his head, "It's okay. Not just because of the mission, but because we don't... really have any holidays like that. The closest we get is the Day of Hope, and even then, it's nowhere near as... mushy."

She puts her hand over his in a silent gesture of thanks.

"Tell me about this Day of Hope. I'm having a hard time picturing a day with that name being anything but nauseatingly saccharine, but since you're telling me that's not the case, my curiosity is piqued." Not that she minds a little saccharinity. Peter's steadfast romanticism was always one of him most charming qualities.

"Well, it's the anniversary of the day we found the female eggs," Kang shrugged. "It's also the girls' birthday, and even though on the very first one, they made public declarations of who they'd chosen as mates, it's really just one big party. Some draconians, and a handful of vendors from outside Teyr, set up booths with food and alcohol, and last year, the corps of engineers got hammered and decided to have a pumpkin-launching contest with trebuchets."

In other words, there weren't hearts everywhere, scenes of couples being lovey-dovey, or jewelry, stuffed animals and chocolates being pushed on people.

"Did they have the trebuchets at hand, or assemble them drunkenly? Because I imagine that'd make a difference as to whether it's a safe spectator sport." She giggles. "It sounds nice. It sounds like you needed something to celebrate."

Kang laughed, "They had a couple on hand, but decided to build a few more for it. Outside the city walls, of course. Gloth's team won, and they bragged about it for days." He paused. "...I might show you, one day."

"It sounds like something worth bragging about, since I'm going to assume that good trebuchets are more than just a stack of toothpicks arranged haphazardly." She smiles, and it reaches her eyes for the first time that night. "I'd like that."

That was better. Kang's own smile widened, "You'd assume right. They're much more complicated than people from your time period think."

"Peter dabbled in engineering. I get to hear all about how complicated wagons and ballpoint pens and pianos are. I don't doubt trebuchets have tons of little Rube Goldbergy parts that collapse on themselves if they're a centimeter off." She takes another drink and examines the jug. "If I look like I'm going to finish this, stop me. And don't listen to me if I argue about it."

"Sounds like it can get annoying at times," Kang commented, grinning, and he took a drink from his mug. "Got it. I hear wine hangovers are particularly bad."

"I don't know. I seem to always find enthusiasm charming, even when it's something I have no interest in." She takes another drink. "Hopefully I'll sleep through the worst of it. My liver's had worse nights than this one and I'm sure it'll have even more legendary escapades in the future."

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Katzenjammer [Open]

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