#ruby devereaux

Maya was halfway to drunk already. Despite her increased drinking, how little she'd been sleeping and eating meant it didn't take too much. Especially when she was taking pulls straight from the bottle. She'd sunk to her kitchen floor, hair half in her face. Hermes had curled up next to her. She didn't notice the hot fat tears rolling down her cheeks or the continued throbbing of her hand. She couldn't focus on much of anything.

Moving up the familiar path to Maya's apartment, Ryden parted ways with Ruby who made a straight line for the bathroom to wash up. He meandered to the kitchen, where the smell of alcohol and panic was strong. He found Maya on the kitchen floor and plopped down tiredly next to her, arms hanging limply over his knees. He heaved a deep, tired sigh, head thrown back against the counter, at a loss for words for the moment.

Maya barely looked up when Ryden and Ruby returned, only enough to make sure they weren't seriously injured. After confirming exactly that, she returned her gaze to her hardwood floor as if it held some sort of answer. It didn't. She didn't react when Ryden sat next to her. Hermes, on the other hand, sniffed at him to make sure he wasn't injured. After a long moment, she spoke in a soft voice, "I'm sorry."

Ignoring the dog because cuteness wasn't a priority now, Ryden sighed again at Maya's apology. "For what? For bein' a dumbass? Yeah, apology not accepted."

Again, Maya was quiet for a long moment. She didn't have much to say for herself. Instead, she asked, "Why are you here then?"

"Cause I wanna be, duuh. Why else?" Ryden finally looked at her, noticing the bottle of whiskey in her hand, already half done. He stole it from her loose grip, taking a long swig off it himself, grimacing at the burning sensation gliding down his throat.

Satisfied that the big one wasn't injured, Hermes trotted off in search of Ruby. Maya couldn't argue with that."Your life would be a lot easier without me in it, you know," Maya replied simply as a fact.

"No, it wouldn't. The fuck ya know about my life anyway?" Ryden snorted, making sure to take smaller sips off the whiskey he stole from her. After he had his fill, he returned the bottle to Maya. "Are ya still sure ya can handle this on yer own?"

Maya only managed a half smile as he disagreed with her. She didn't believe him, but it was nice of Ryden to disagree. She took back the whiskey from him and took a long draw from it. Shaking her head, she huffed a laugh. "I was trying to convince myself more than anyone else. Being that scared again? It made me feel so small and weak." She took another pull from the bottle.

 "Ya know that everyone's got those moments and it's perfectly normal, right? Especially if it's sumtin' seriously fucked up. Shit, when will you learn to take advantage of the perks of havin' people who care about ya? Why is that so bloody difficult for ya?" Ryden came at her full-force, right in the core of the problem, because obviously, Maya would never get to answering these questions for herself. If he asked them out loud, maybe she'd actually stop to finally give them a good, hard thought.

Brushing her hair out of her face, Maya sighed. There was a defensive part of her that wanted to ask him the same question. After all, it wasn't like Ryden was big on asking for help. But it wasn't the one so clearly not handling his shit. She took a drink. "When I get scared like that, like someone calling me mama and sitting outside my apartment scared, it's like I'm fucking sixteen again. And, I don't know, there was no one to save her. No one really believed that girl was in trouble." As she said it, she couldn't bring herself to look at him, instead focusing on the dark liquid in the whiskey bottle.

"Are you still sixteen, Maya? Wanna stay stuck in there? Is that what ya want?" Ryden asked, not to push her or judge her. He genuinely asked if she really wanted this for herself.

Maya shook her head again. It didn't feel like it was about what she wanted. It felt more like someone had flipped a switch her head. She tried to explain, "It's just when I'm scared like that...when I'm really and properly terrified, the survival part of my brain takes over." She shook her head again and set the bottle down. "I don't know. It feels like I spend so much time trying to be better and none of it fucking matters."

"No, yer talkin' bout an instinct that takes over in the moment. Not tellin' people yer in trouble is a conscious decision ya gotta keep up with, which you do, even when the instinct wears off. Don't fuckin' blame it on survival. Yer a conscious being. It's not possible we run on instinct our every wakin' moment. So, tell me, what are ya actually doing to make things better?" Ryden replied.

Nothing was the answer to Ryden's question. Maya hadn't done anything to make it better. Unless one counted getting a dog, but one probably shouldn't. For a long few minutes, she didn't say anything. Part of her, that lizard part of her brain that told her how to act when things got bad, argued she should just say the same things she'd told Ruby. The cult would get bored eventually. They hadn't actually physically attacked her since the party. And other flimsy excuses. Finally, Maya said, "I need help. I don't know what to do. I'm not sleeping, I barely eat, I'm just...I don't know what to do."

"Yeah... I know." Ryden muttered when she finally confessed. He reached out for her, pulling her to him until all of her weight was cradled in his arms. "I'll stay with ya. Okay?" He nuzzled against the top of her head, kissing the roots of her hair. "I'll take care of you and we'll take care of it t'gether."

 Maya let herself be pulled into the safety of Ryden's arms. She relaxed in a way she hadn't for weeks. "You shouldn't have to," she argued weakly. But it wasn't about if he had to. Clearly he'd already chosen to. For a moment, she closed her eyes and let herself be warmed by the embrace. She'd been so cold recently. "Did you know what they meant?" she asked, "What that woman was chanting, I mean."

"Yeah, well, shit happens, even to people better than either of us. Ya gotta do wha'choo gotta do," Ryden concluded, plain and simple. He let her relax into his hug, physically feeling some of the tension leaving her body. Although she couldn't see it, his expression darkened when conversation was directed back to the happenings of the night. "Not sure but I'll find out..."

"They were talking about you," Maya said, although they both already knew it. "Do you think its..." She paused to make sure that Ruby was still in the shower before lowering her voice even further. "You think the Man in Black is behind this whole cult business?" she asked before adding, "They're all werewolves. The cult folks who've been following me around."

"Well, did they say anythin'? Have they tried to make any kinda contact? Anythin' else ya remember?" He was grasping at straws, though. When Iann helped him recover his memories of the night he got turned, it got Ryden all kinds of ideas what might be going on. But that was no actual proof of anything. At this point, this could literally mean anything.

 "Other than them calling me variations on mom? Because no, that's basically it," Maya replied. Some of the tension returned to her shoulders as she added, "As you probably guessed I've been trying to ignore it more than anything."

"Fuck, what? 'Mom'? Fuckin' twisted..." Things made even less sense now. Ryden regretted not having locked up one of the pricks in a basement now. Everyone could sing a song if you push hard enough. He would be able to get them to talk, especially since they seemed terrified of him. Too late now though, and somehow, he didn't like the idea of getting a second chance at that, no matter how useful it might prove to be. Sighing again, he finally released Maya from his embrace, tucking her hair behind her ears. "Whatever, let's just... not think about it t'night. We promised to pretend, remember?"

 It didn't make any more sense to Maya than it did to Ryden. In fact, it probably made less sense given that she had less information. At least though, neither of them was in it alone. Given it involved both of them now, it was almost easy to convince even the worst of her instincts that they would indeed face it together. When he released her, Maya sat up. She gave him a soft smile, "Yeah and I'd really rather be anyone but Maya Parker right now." She huffed a laugh, "Although my hand still fucking hurts."

Ryden managed a lopsided smirk at that. "Lemme see." He took her hand in his, noticing some bruising already starting to form. "I'll git ya sum ice for it." He stood up, walking to the fridge to get an ice pack.

Maya tried not to wince as Ryden inspected her hand. Now that she was thinking about it, it actually hurt a lot. Worse was the fact she was certain that it had hurt her more than the person she'd punched. "Thanks," she replied. She dragged herself to her feet too. The world was a little topsy-turvy, but she'd certainly been more drunk. She leaned on the counter with her uninjured hand to steady herself.

"Girl, do ya even know how to thrown a punch? Next time, go for the throat, okay? Right in the Adam's apple." Taking Maya's hand again, Ryden pressed the ice pack over it. "Hold it. I'll go fetch the first aid to wrap it up. It's in the bathroom, right?"

It's not my fault he was especially thick skulled. On humans that totally works," Maya argued. It was her own fault, really, for thinking that she could punch a werewolf. She did as instructed, holding the ice pack to her injured hand and nodding.

 Ryden laughed, "Nope, that one was human. The two Ruby brought down were weres. Be right back." He slipped out of the kitchen upstairs to the bathroom and totally peeked on Ruby showering while he retrieved the first aid kit.

"You won't even let me have that?" Maya shouted after him. With a sigh, she picked up the whiskey bottle while balancing the ice pack on her hand. She took a long pull before putting it away again. She then went back to holding the ice pack to her hand.

When Ryden returned, he had the stuff needed to bandage up Maya's arm and reduce any swelling. He set those things on the counter before taking her hand to work the bandage around it. "Ya hungry, by the way? I can mix a late snack up."

 As he worked, Maya tried hard not to show that it hurt. As far as all the pain she'd experienced, this paled in comparison. But it did hurt. She shook her head when Ryden asked if she was hungry. "Kind of lost my appetite," she replied. "I just..." she paused and her gaze dropped to his mouth for a half a second. She quickly flicked it back up to his grey eyes, "I just don't want to think any more tonight if I can help it."

"Mhmmm..." Like Ryden hadn't noticed from this up close where her eyes wandered. He raised an eyebrow as he tightened the bandage as gently as he could. "This is yer handjob hand. Yer useless now so drop that thought. And you'll fuckin' eat whatever I make, cause if not, I'll guilt trip ya to hell 'bout it." Because she had to eat something. He was pretty sure he hadn't properly in a while.

Maya laughed, knowing when she was totally called out. "Who said anything about a hand job? I had much better ideas than a hand job," she teased. She also could tell by his tone of voice that she was going to be eating, appetite or not. And all things considered, she probably should. She held her hands up in fake surrender, "Okay, okay I'll eat. Although we should probably skip dessert. I wouldn't trust anything I made in the last few weeks to be not emotionally unstable."

Ruby had to get the smell of the other wolves off her before she could do anything else. Ryden had moved off to sit with Maya, so Ruby went up to grab a quick shower. She closed the door so she wouldn't overhear anything the others might have to say to each other without her there, but when Ryden came in she sprayed water at him. "Ass," she smiled, though it was a bit less bright than usual. Slipping her underwear back on once she'd dried off, Ruby toweled off her hair and padded out into the adjoining room. Without being too nosy, she snagged the first shirt that looked big enough to cover most of her and pulled it on. She made sure the others could hear her coming as she padded down the stairs and joined them in the kitchen, leaning against the doorjamb as she observed them. "I heard food, booze, and handjobs... sounds like my kinda night."

 "Aww, fuck me sideways, I'm surrounded by horny spinsters." Ryden laughed when, again, the both of them ganged up on him with sexual innuendos. He'd finished with Maya's hand, putting the first aid kit away. He went for the fridge then, to see what he could find to make a decent meal for three. "It's gonna be an omelette. Cause that's pretty much all I can make and luckily, the only thing available cause that one don't think grocery shopping is a thing."

"Who you callin' spinster?" Ruby tossed a pen from the counter at him as he moved to the fridge.

"I think you may be the only man in the entire world who would think that's a bad thing," Maya teased, "I'm pretty sure it's the plot of a least a fifth of pornos." Given what he'd just said though, it was good natured teasing and nothing more. As he started on food, she sat on one of the stools at the kitchen island, knowing that her drinking would be kicking in full force any minute. Turning to Ruby, Maya asked, "You okay?"

Ryden ducked to avoid the pen thrown at him, amused. "Yeah, well, it sucks when yer all talk and no walk." Then he proceeded to make the promised food, giving the girls a minute too.

Ruby was absently rubbing her neck where the wire - some sort of silver alloy apparently - had cut into her skin. A barely there red line was slowly fading, and it didnt' hurt, but only now was Ruby starting to think about what had nearly happened. "Hmm? Yeah, I'm alright. Little weirded out... a lot pissed off... but otherwise I'm good."

Maya only laughed when Ryden accused Ruby of being all talk and no walk. From what she knew of her friend, there was still plenty of chance for walk. Although given what else Maya knew about Ruby and her feelings that window was likely rapidly closing. She nodded when Ruby explained how she felt. "Yeah, I think that's the general feeling tonight," she agreed. She glanced between Ryden and Ruby. "Oh, does anyone want anything to drink? Water? Tea? I didn't finish off the whiskey?"

She didn't ask Maya how she was, because Ruby could tell. Maya wasn't great. "I mean... if you think you can make eggs with a hand in your pants... go right ahead,” she said to Ryden.  "You owe me whiskey anyway," Ruby murmured to Maya, snagging the bottle the others had been drinking from and taking a long pull as she perched up on the counter. She let the bottle dangle from her hand. There were things she wanted to ask, but she also wanted to forget what had happened as well. Just for a bit. She took another long drink, wincing at the burn, but glad for it too.

 "I have nothin' t'say to that." Ryden confessed, lips pressed into a tight line. "Make me coffee." He requested from Maya instead, as he prepped the pan for the omelette he was about to make.

Maya started making a whole pot of coffee. She could probably use some too. It was a little difficult with her hand bandaged the way it was, but she didn't complain. Instead, she worked quietly while Ryden worked at the stove.

Ruby watched the others work, slowly draining the bottle of alcohol as the food and coffee made. It all smelled amazing, and Ruby started to slowly feel a bit better. "Alright... its too quiet," Ruby said after a minute. She slipped off the counter, taking the bottle with her and moved to snag her phone. She turned on some low music, nothing too loud, just enough to fill the space a bit.

Although he hadn't made an effort to fill up the silence, after a minute, Ryden did make his hips twitch a little to the beat of the music from Ruby's phone. He was done with the food now and moved the pan to the counter, putting something underneath because it was still hot. He produced three forks and handed the around, stabbing into the pan first for a bite. He never stopped jiggling a little to the beat of Ruby's music while at it.

Once she was eating, Maya realized just how hungry she was. For a moment, until her plate was clean, she focused on that. After depositing her dish in the sink for later though, she took one of Ruby's hands with her good one and pulled her out to dance in the empty space between the living room and kitchen.

Ruby took her fork with a murmur of thanks and ate her share of the food, which was really good. She still had the whiskey bottle - nearly gone by now - in her hand when Maya snagged her out into the kitchen. As always, Maya was warm and smelled good, so Ruby danced close, enjoying the distraction. If she didn't do something, she would end up asking questions, and that wasn't what she wanted to do right now. Not with the sounds of chanting and religious fervor still ringing in her ears. Or with the thoughts of what might've happened to Maya if she and Ryden hadn't been there. The hand holding the bottle twisted a bit in the fabric of Maya's shirt.

After eating up the rest of what the girls left because you never throw away food, Ryden joined them, dancing silly in comparison to how Maya and Ruby did but he didn't mind being the comic relief right now. He wiggled his way between them until they formed one very awkward sandwich with Ryden rocking them obnoxiously, killing all the potential for a romantic mood but at least hopefully making them laugh a little.

The events of the night, and honestly of the last few months, weighed heavily on Maya as it all wound down. Her eyelids started to droop as her movements slowed. After a minute or two, she rested her head against Ryden between them, eyes fully closed. All things considered it was a miracle she'd stayed up this long.

 Ryden eventually slowed down, just content to sway while keeping both women close. He felt Maya relax against them, her body growing heavy and movement sluggish. "Aww shit, she gunna make me carry her to bed again." He grinned, more to himself than Ruby. "Nap time, I guess. C'mon, girl." He swooped Maya up, meaning to get her upstairs to her room.

Ruby was content to just lean against the warm bundle of her friends. The whiskey had warmed her too, and she swayed along with them until Ryden moved to take Maya upstairs. She smiled at Ryden's comment, idly thinking she'd love someone to carry her up to bed, and to stay afterwards. Just to sleep. Nothing more. So she wondered if it was alright to follow. Not wanting to intrude but also not wanting to pack off to her house to sleep alone again. For now, she followed, leaning on the doorframe to watch Ryden put Maya to bed. Something fluttered past the window, and Ruby moved to look outside, but it was just a pigeon roosting for the night. She pulled the blinds tight.

 By the time Ryden got her up to her bedroom, Maya was almost entirely asleep. She'd grasped his shirt when he swooped her up. She didn't let go when he put her down in her bed.

Of course it was fine for Ruby to follow. When Ryden put Maya down, he whispered to Ruby as she shut the blinds. "Guess we sleepin' like a pile o'puppies again. Shit I do for friends, that threesome better actually happen." He grinned at her as he slipped onto the bed next to Maya. Maybe she'll let go at some point so he could at least take his shirt off.

In a sudden unceremonious instant, the underwater world disappeared. It was replaced the grocery store that they all knew. Maya collapsed to the floor, sobbing. She couldn’t do this anymore. It was too much. She wasn’t enough. Between these pockets and the cult and everything else, she wasn’t strong enough. She muttered as much to herself, head in her hands.

The world suddenly shifted again, and Ruby was left with a terrible ringing in her ears that left whining and trembling. But then she was in the grocery store again, still a wolf, still covered in blood and gore and dripping seawater. And with all her things in Ephram’s bag. Not that the wolf herself remembered that. But Ruby would once she changed back. The smells were different here, and one drew Ruby’s attention more than the others. She padded towards Maya where the witch sat on the floor. Ruby was a sight, and probably terrifying to look at for anyone that didn’t know her, but she wuffled Maya’s hair before licking the splattered blood off the witch’s face. Alright. Is Alright, she tried to say, Safe now.

Perhaps the only person who looked somewhat disappointed to be back in the good ol’ hopefully monster-free reality was Ryden. Usually, coming back meant it’s difficult to return to what you came back from. If that made any sense… Letting his bones and nails come back to their rightful, human place, the blood and gore he was covered with was still a proof of the bloodbath he’d been through. A family of four pushing along the aisle looked at the bunch of them funny before moving on. Ryden spat out a mouthful of bile and nasty taste, slipping down to the floor to sit, back against the shelf. “Fuckin’ hell…”

Maya didn’t stop crying as Ruby tried to comfort her. The fur was enough to let her know that was who it was. She didn’t know where everyone else was. She didn’t spare a thought to anyone else who might’ve been in the grocery store. They all had to look an awful sight. “But we’re not,” she argued hopelessly with the wolf, “Between this and that fucking cult and…” she brought her head up long enough to make eye contact with Ryden. Even this bone deep exhaustion wasn’t enough to betray his secret. Instead she shook her head, “I’m fucking exhausted and I can’t sleep anymore.”

Ruby understood Maya when she spoke now. It had taken practice, and patience, but with every shift it got just a tiny bit easier. There was no reason for her to stay as she was, other than she’d be buck ass naked without her clothes once she shifted back. But what Maya said was more important than anyone getting a peek at Ruby’s tits. So she let herself shift back, scrubbing a hand over her blood mouth and spitting much as Ryden had. “No one is gonna hurt you. I won’t let them.” She looked at Ryden, then back at Maya. “Does he know?” About the cult. It was hardly the time or the place for such a conversation, but when was a good time?

Ryden looked up from where he’d been staring down at, not much of anything readable in his expression. He reached up and plucked a couple of bottles of cherry cola off the lower shelves. One he’d let roll off towards Maya and the other he’d opened up and chugged on himself. Water would be better but it was stacked up elsewhere and he didn’t feel much like moving just yet. He watched Maya crumble and sob but reacted little to it it all. He reached out to quietly pick up another bottle of cherry cola for Ruby now that she had shifted.

Ruby caught the drink with a nod of thanks and sucked it down. She needed it, else she’d start to crash. Sinking back on her rear, Ruby sat between the two others, looking like she’d been on a week long bender instead of an hour or two in a pocket verse.

Maya looked up again only as something hit her leg. She managed a watery smile and a nod at Ryden as she picked it up. A half hearted laugh bubbled out of her at Ruby’s question. “No, I fucking lied. I didn’t call anyone that night,” she replied. She opened the bottle and brought it to her lips. She should probably worry about how they looked. Ruby was completely naked, giving Mrs. Peterson more than an eyeful over by the bananas. Her own shoulder was still bleeding and Ryden was coated in blood and viscera. But she couldn’t bring herself to care.

A tiny part of Ruby had said Maya wasn’t going to call anyone that night. But she trusted her friend. Though it seemed as if she’d been wrong to do so. At least on that particular occasion. “Jesus Christ, Maya…” Ruby sighed. “Some wolf cult fucks…” she said, turning to Ryden, “tried to roofie us a couple of weeks back. Then just about two weeks ago, two of their members showed up at my fuckin’ house. They didn’t do nothin’, and they havne’t come back, but I think they were lookin’ for Maya.” She glanced at her friend. “I’ve had Bri lookin’ out for you, by the way.” Since they were tellin’ the truth and all.

Ryden tended to stay out of conversations he didn’t understand. And right now, he had no fucking clue what the two of them were talking about. When they wanted, they would explain. Until then, he sat in quiet cluelessness, taking his shirt off to hand it over to Ruby to wear. Most people would get swallowed up by any shirt Ryden wore, even the skinny kind, and Ruby was definitely tiny enough to have it reach at least past her buttocks. “Two… weeks ago?” Ryden asked. He had met up with Maya two weeks ago. She was far from looking shaken like she’d been roofied. But then again, neither Ryden nor Maya and Ruby seemed to have figured out yet that he’d been gone for over a month.

“Ruby, it’s fine,” Maya snapped, “I told you it’s fine.” It was not fine. She was far from fine. “Besides, it’s not like it would’ve mattered. He hasn’t texted me back in weeks anyway,” she replied. Maya pulled herself to her feet. Her survival instinct was resurfacing again. She swallowed. “I can fucking take care of myself, okay?” her voice was sharp like a claw’s edge. “I’m fine.” It was an obvious and poor lie. Maya looked between the two of them and shook her head. “I should’ve just stayed in fucking New York,” she said, “Made everybody here’s lives better.”

“God, yer full of shit,” Ryden stated, matter-of-factly, in his usual no sugar-coating it way that applied to everyone, no matter how much he cared for them. “And I’ve fuckin texted ya three days ago, wha'choo talkin’ about? Why ya actin’ like yer tha bomb when yer obviously going through shit ya can’t handle? S'wrong with ya?”

“Stop,” Ruby said, a bit sharper than she normally was with her friend. But it was only because she was concerned. She’d seen how Maya had just stopped moving back in that fucked version of this world. How she simply hadn’t had anything left. What would happen to her here?? Where the threat wouldn’t go away when you crossed some magical boundary line. “Maybe a bit more than a month? Less than two?” Ruby clarified for Ryden. She was awful when it came to timeframes. “Yeah, I know you can take care of yourself. But sometimes you can’t.” She made a small gesture of agreement as Ryden said the same thing in his own way, which was straight up and to the point. Maybe Maya would listen to him if not Ruby. “New York? You think that’s better? You think Carson gives a shit about who you are or what you want?” Ruby huffed. “He asks a lotta personal questions about you to someone he’s never met before." She snatched Ryden’s shirt over her head with a mumbled thanks. "And by the way,” she said to Maya, “You don’t get to decide if you make people’s lives better or not. Thats for them to decide.“

"Can someone go grab me a magazine or somethin’?” Ryden asked absently as he stood up, coming up to Maya. “Stand still, cupcake.” He said, without any room left for argument, ang gently rolled her sleeve up to reveal the gash beneath. He hissed under his breath. “And a bandage maybe?? Ruby?”

Maya looked over to Ryden. “Ryden, I haven’t heard from you in weeks. I thought you were pissed at me, honestly. It’s been /weeks/.” Hurt flickered across her expression as she considered that the time simply hadn’t mattered to him. But that hurt was gone too fast for anyone who didn’t know her well to see. She whipped back around to Ruby. “Wouldn’t you?” she asked, “If someone you cared about disappeared and you didn’t see them for almost three years wouldn’t you grab onto any information you could about them?” She flinched, surprised when Ryden spoke directly next to her. At least she stood still though. But she couldn’t bring her gaze up to meet Ryden’s. “I’m fine,” she tried to argue, “Like you said, I can handle shit.”

“No, I said you CAN’T handle shit, yer a mess right now. face it and let us take care of ya, geez,” Ryden mumbled, something akin to annoyance bubbling in him though not quite. It was too mixed up with concern to be mere annoyance at Maya’s refusal to cooperate. “And I’m tellin’ ya, it’s been three days! I’ll show ya my phone when I find it.” Maybe she missed that text. But it was a convo that went on for an hour and ended up with them saying goodnight. And it couldn’t be that she’d missed all of the texts they exchanged this past month - she had been RESPONDING to them regularly. “What’s today? What date?” He asked absently, looking over the shelves to find something to use as bandage on Maya’s wound for now. They’d have to go to another aisle, it seems.

“Of course I would,” she said to Maya. “But the things he asked me were… strange, Maya. The whole mood was… strange. Like he was happy you were happy, but… disappointed that you weren’t happy in the way he wanted you to be?” Ruby sighed. “I don’t know. It was just fuckin’ off to me.” When Ryden asked for things for Maya’s wound, Ruby nodded, needing a second anyway as she got up and padded through the store to the medical supplies. She ignore the strange looks from the few people inside, and took a moment to dash the tears from her face - and give the other two a few minutes alone - before padding back over.

“Wouldn’t you?” Maya asked again. At the moment, it was too much for her to consider that her friendship with Carson wasn’t exactly as she’d imagined it. As Ruby wandered off, she finally looked up at Ryden, concern etched in her features. It was hardly the preferable method, but Maya’s concern brought her slowly out of her momentary despair. “It’s the end of August,” she replied. She remembered their last proper conversation. She’d looked over it a few times, trying to figure out where she might’ve pissed him off. “Ouch, fuck,” she flinched as his fingers glanced over the wound in her shoulder. It was deeper than she’d realized.

“End of August, huh…” Ryden hummed, peering at her wound as he checked it out and waited for Ruby to come back with medical supplies. “Okay, yeah. Maybe it’s been a month…” He mumbled. He’d have to figure this one out later. First things first - not have Maya bleed out through the gash on her. "Who’s that Carson dude again?“ he asked.

Ruby knelt back down and held out the supplies, waiting to help as she could. They’d pretty much taken this aisle as their own, and no one else had bothered them.

Maya snapped, "Yeah, maybe it’s been a fucking month.” She couldn’t be too mad though. Not when she knew that sometimes dealing with things meant dealing with them later. Maya looked away from Ryden again. “Carson was my best friend for five years when I lived in New York. I thought he and Ruby would get on, but I guess not.”

“We did get on,” Ruby said, taking out some gauze. “I didn’t say he was a douchebag outright, just that I got a weird vibe from the guy.”

Ryden took Maya snapping at him as if it was nothing he cared to respond to. Instead, he took what Ruby could find and at least managed to tie the wound over to stop the bleeding. “Uh-huh. He not the one who roofied ya? It was a… werewolf cult? He part of it?”

Ruby glanced up at Maya, waiting to see what she would say about the incident before she added her own two cents if needed.

Maya pulled her arm away from Ryden as he tied a makeshift bandage around her shoulder. “Fuck you. I thought you hated me. Or worse that you were fucking dead,” she said and had to wipe an angry tear from her cheek. “And no, Carson never roofied me. It was some fucking cult, I don’t know. I’m fine obviously. No tinfoil hat or whatever. So nothing to fucking worry about.”

“We went to this party,” Ruby added. “At this old house in the woods. Her coworker invited us,” Ruby said, gesturing to Maya. “Pretty legit other than the creepy old house. About an hour in, sis here starts actin’ weird as fuck… figures out before I do that someone slipped her something somehow, and when we tried to leave these assholes tried to stop us. So we crawled out the bathroom window. They came after us before we got the car, but i locked her drugged ass inside and made sure that bitch who tried to stop me knew better.”

“Sure,” Ryden answered simply to Maya’s rage, shoving his hands into his pockets. “I’ll go git sumone to call ambulance, take ya to the doctor’s. If you don’t go, I’ll find you and fucking murder ya meself. You go home, dress and shower.” He reached down to pinch Ruby’s chin affectionately. Then he turned away to leave.

Maya shook her head. “No,” she reached out and grabbed at Ryden’s arm, “No, you don’t get to fucking walk away right now. Where the fuck were you?” She knew it was probably useless. If he was determined to leave, then he was determined to leave. But Maya couldn’t help, but try. “And I don’t need a doctor,” she appealed to Ruby, “I’ve had worse.”

“Shut up,” Ruby said to Maya. “I’ll make sure she gets to the doc,” she told Ryden, leaning into his hand just a bit with an equal show of affection.

“Well, ya never had ME, when ya don’t fuckin’ listen to what I tell ya to do.” Ryden squeezed through gritted teeth but he stopped when Maya grabbed his arm. “Now, git outta yer head for a second, learn t'back off when people kindly ask ya to and mind that yer fuckin’ friend, who was there for ya back then, is naked, dirty and also maybe hurt. So take care of yerself so ya can take care of other people too. I ain’t tellin’ ya shit when yer too fucked up to listen, so git sorted and then we’ll talk.” He said sternly, then looked down at Ruby and nodded gratefully. “Now let go, I don’t want t'have to push you away, literally and figuratively.”

Maya had to give Ryden that. She let go, almost as a recoil. She blinked twice. Right, she needed to be strong. She knew that. She had to be okay. Ruby needed her help. “I’m sorry,” Maya replied in a voice barely above a whisper. She shook her head, trying to clear it. Nothing had happened yet. At least not that hadn’t happened to anyone else. She was overreacting again. “Fine,” she said, throat suddenly dry, “A doctor. But it doesn’t hurt that bad, really…well, it might be shock. I might be in shock.”

“Mmm.” Ryden hummed, shoulders relaxing now that Maya was responsive again. He’d definitely come out a bit too strong on this. But that was the only way he knew. “I’ll check in on ya both a bit later.” He promised, turning to leave again. They’d both just have to find a way to trust him that he’s not leaving them here because of something not important.

Ruby hated to be upset with the people she loved. She hated conflict. Because all it had done for her in the past was get her in trouble, and make people dislike her. It had lost her more than it had evver gained. But she knew now that sometimes you had to tell people the hard truth. The ones that really gave a shit would still be there at the end of the day, regardless. Ryden seemed like he’d learned that a long time before Ruby had, as he laid it out for Maya. Ruby smiled at him as he gave her a nod, and started to gather what little things they had left laying around. She’d put them on the department’s tab later. “It’s shock. Trust me,” Ruby said to Maya. She’d had enough injuries in her life, even before coming here, to know that.

Maya only nodded. She didn’t know what else to do. She didn’t think that Ryden had left for a month for anything that was trivial. In fact, that was what scared her most. She was absolutely terrified that he would walk off to face whatever was following him alone and not come back at all. “You better,” she informed Ryden’s retreating back. She turned to Ruby. “I’m going to be pissed at you. Later when I’m not in shock and you have pants again. You’ve both got enough shit to deal with. There’s still no use adding Carson and those teens on top of it.”

“That’s alright. I don’t care. You’d do the same thing for me if it had been Aedan sittin’ here with us and me sittin’ where you are bein’ stubborn and bleedin’ everywhere.” Ruby stood, reaching down to help Maya up. “I’m not worried about Carson. He’s 3000 miles a way. Those wolves’re here.”

“You wouldn’t have been such a fucking idiot,” Maya argued. She let Ruby help her up thought. Exhaustion settled atop her bones. “I want to go home,” she said, “Can we please go home?”