#boatdriinks

Vik crossed off another day on the handmade calendar hanging beside the fridge. Not strictly needed, but he liked the more physical reminder of the passing days til the house would stop feeling empty. Still, sometimes it felt like there were always too few X's between the start of Kerry's tour and the highlighted end date.

Work kept him occupied most of the day, sometimes with pleasant interruptions on his phone as Kerry traveled between venues. Calls helped the most, both just to hear his partner's voice and to listen for any tells of issues. Vik knew there was at least one medic on the tour, yet worry still itched at the back of his mind. If something happened, when he couldn't be present to help...

Even so, he did his best to believe Kerry's reassurances. Nothing his partner had experienced was out of the ordinary for the demands of a music tour. Kerry wasn't in the habit of hiring frauds either, so the medic's word - relayed through his partner - could likely be trusted. Maybe his nerves just needed more visible proof.

Vik had only managed to catch one recording of a performance since Kerry left, and from what he'd seen things had gone fine. Seeing so again should help, not to mention leave him proud of his partner's talent. A good way to unwind for the evening. After double-checking the channel Kerry had mentioned in a text the other day, Vik flipped to it and settled on the couch, keeping the volume low for now. There was still some lead-up time left before the performance started, but he knew it could be busy so he simply sent another text.

LOCATION: TERRA COGNITA, DOGTOWN, past the literal crackheads and up that little incline area. not the building to the right, but the anatomicon building straight ahead if you follow the bend. SCENARIO: was it an idea? absolutely. an opportunity? maybe. a guaranteed disaster? without a doubt. whatever IT was, rogue had decided that kerry's input was needed. not necessary, but still needed nonetheless. with a bit of convincing she'd managed to make the meeting happen, and so with glasses resting in her hairline and a coffee in each hand he was greeted with a one-fingered wave.

" well ... do you see the vision ? " the question was posed as the spare coffee was pushed into his hand, rogue gesturing to the building behind them soon after. it was ... it was a building, there could be no denying that ; it just happened to be a previous crime scene as well, and a bit of a disaster overall. but for what she had in mind? that may have been a good thing.

long forgotten speakers ignored and pushed to the side when need be, a rust colored blood stain stepped through instead of over, voice raised in order to be heard over the music which was still playing from somewhere ─ though where that somewhere was rogue hadn't managed to figure out just yet.

     AGILELY  had a genial bid to reunite been crafted not long after his inevitable return to night city, delivered to @boatdriinks' inbox without superfluous ceremony as if the last few years in  absentia  could be likened to a mere week or two. in the aftermath of his  fruitless  rescue attempt and  poignancy  for alt's demise, a sabbatical was self-prescribed and transitory membership amongst the nomads was embraced alongside santiago's heartfelt condolements. reclaimed anonymity had cultivated a richer sense of reviviscence during his leave from the neon-laden cityscape, the technologically  dirty  lifestyle harkening back to similarly  rustic  circumstances prior to samurai's meteoric rise to fame; in comparison, kerry's current living situation would have been preeminently deemed the height of  luxury  with its comfortable square footage and lack of communal amenities.

     red dirt had been their meetup's proposed location out of some semblance of  sentimentalism  but kerry's counterargument was too cogent for a respective rebuttal, especially given the particular terms of his co-parenting arrangement and disinclination to abrogate its responsibility; the  sober  reminder of parenthood and its lifelong commitment invited inward  gratefulness  of his own decision to drastically foreshorten its probability without compromise to his  hedonistic  trysts years ago — no paternity tests, no child support, and no bullshit. although kerry hadn't been endowed with the same type of  prosperity, to his due credit, any resentment was avowedly eclipsed by unconditional love for his daughter.

           truly heartwarming.

It's astounding how, although everything seems to have changed while he was away, the essence of Kamurocho is still the same. As he navigates the streets, Ichiban can't help but look for the shops he used to visit in the past, hoping he might see a familiar face somewhere. He's well aware of how unrealistic that sounds, but one can hope to feel less lost. Well, he doesn't even know if lost is the right word to describe what he's experiencing right now; he knows exactly where he is, it just doesn't feel right.

she didn't do it ; but going off of sound alone ? the laugh which escaped parted lips painted the picture of a girl tossing her hair, one heel lifting from the floor in delight all in exchange for the oh so funny joke kerry had blessed her with. it was a sound which rogue had never made before, and one which she hoped to never make again. anyone and everyone would agree that trying too hard was NOT a good look on rogue ... but it was impossible to stop once the nightmare began.

( to her ... credit? this particular brand of embarrassment was perhaps a bit better than her initial choice ; that of being an unmoving, unfeeling she-devil straight from hell. but at least that had felt genuine. )

as lipstick stained filter was flicked to the ground rogue would hold both palms towards the other, her official demonstration of surrender signifying kerry's win.

𝐎𝐍𝐄 ... '𝙛𝙪𝙘𝙠 𝙢𝙚, 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙮 𝙬𝙚𝙧𝙚 𝙡𝙤𝙪𝙙 ' an interesting greeting, one which inspired a smile and ushered in the hug warm enough to break the ice. in rachel's new life, the one she had thrown herself into head first without so much as a second thought or worry about what would need to be given up in return, there was very little time for things like friendship and nights out ── but on the night in question she'd made the time. carved it out of the universe using sheer will when the invitation to meet a few old friends was thrown her way. she'd missed out on the start of the night, the main event as it were, but as she stood shoulder to shoulder with the friends she'd so desperately missed, smiling along as they told her about the shitty little local band they'd just heard play and making plans for the rest of the night, it felt to her like no time had passed at all. they were still who they'd always been, and she was still herself. nothing, and no one, would ever change that. ( attention wavered momentarily, gaze lingering on the alley in which staff and talent came and went. a glimpse of leather and red, dark hair disappearing from view in an instant. for a moment he, whoever he was, was far more interesting than whatever it was her friends were yammering about, but once out of view rogue managed to snap back into her role: rachel. just for the night. )

𝐓𝐖𝐎 ... his voice clear, but seemingly far away - heard through the crack left open when bedroom door didn't properly click shut. still in the haze of being half awake rogue was only distinctly aware of a few things ; the musky and familiar scent coming from the sheets beneath her. the fan above circulating cool air across her bare chest. warmth from the california sun beginning to overtake that cool air as mid-morning turned to late afternoon. and him. kerry. beyond the bedroom, talking to someone with all of the animation she'd come to expect. eventually she would have to make her exit, her completely shame-free walk of shame ... but before such a time came to pass rogue would listen to his voice, really listen, in a way she hadn't before. she would memorize tone and timbre. imagine his face as words were said ; a smile or a grimace, rolling eyes or a pout of annoyance. the gruff but not unpleasant edge she'd never noticed before. although they were completely apart, in different rooms even, it felt to rogue like the most time they'd ever spent together. he would hate it, she thought, the moments of congeniality she was stealing - but that only served to make it all the more satisfying. gaze on the ceiling, fan whirring above ... she would stay just a little longer.

𝐓𝐇𝐑𝐄𝐄 ... he was beautiful. once noticed, the sooner she accepted it as fact, tried to stop convincing herself otherwise, the sooner things would be much easier. he was beautiful, charismatic, and important. the most important person, actually. her most important person's most important person. and to have her most important person's most important person be not only beautiful and charismatic, but also, in rogue's mind, after more than just friendship with her most important person? ... well, it was enough to make a girl feel a little insecure ─ because she'd seen them together, and in truth wouldn't blame her most important person for making the switch if he so chose. there was history there. years and jokes and trauma and each other. it wasn't the sort of thing she could compete with, nor would she have wanted to ; because in the end his beauty, and charisma, and importance deserved to be acknowledged ... even if she did, in a way, regret having noticed it in the first place.

tone may have been misconstrued ... though given the content of his words rogue was confident in her assumption that kerry wasn't thrilled with her ; it was just the reason that remained a mystery. A LIAR through and through, kerry was one of the few people who ... well, she did lie to him on occasion, there was no denying that. but only when necessary ( and only when it was for his own good ) though try as she might to dig up some memory of a recent lie, rogue came away empty handed.

❝ you serious? to this day it remains the single coolest thing i've ever fuckin' seen.❞ what kind of an asshole would forget a studio session, childhood memory or not?

young enough at the time to have no idea how old he'd actually been, but old enough to remember a majority of it, what had stuck with trace most weren't the sounds tweaked to perfection or the actual honest to god ART being created right in front of him . . . no, somehow that still developing peanut brain of his had latched onto the power kerry seemed to have within the room. the only one ( the way trace saw it ) who knew what they were doing, the only one who was being listened to without a second thought.

even then he'd been able to pinpoint the underlying differences between what he was seeing in front of him and the life he lived while back home with his father ── nomads claimed up and down that they were all about freedom, but doing everything for an entire group wasn't free, living life as a family unit instead of as an individual wasn't free. freedom was getting to call the shots for yourself, a room full of people making sure that things sounded the way you wanted them to all because you were you and what you said was law.

even if given the chance to do so trace wouldn't have changed the way he grew up . . . but those memories were seared into his heart and soul, and he would always know that the grass really was greener on the other side.