[b]Lynn[/b]

The warm was coming. It had been a while since Lynn was drunk like this - despite any scientific evidence to the contrary, Lynn was a firm believer that different alcohols induced different drunks. The last time Lynn had been inebriated was in a prison cell, and perhaps owing to that less than illustrious ambiance, it was not the most enjoyable of wine sipping sessions she'd ever had. Tequila had always been a standby, and tequila on an occasion such as this even more so - the fire danced beside her, flickering brighter and bolder with Lynn's arrival, but not dangerously so. The girl's mood was flickering with it, something happy and warm and dancing, and the lanterns almost seemed to pull to her. The sparks of the campfire disproportionately fluttered to her hair rather than the ground or the open air, no matter where Lynn walked in the little clearing. The tequila from earlier was starting to seep in now, like a big fluffiness that dripped from her head down to her words and thoughts.

"Shots!" Lynn said, her teeth flashing. [i]The first time kids have enjoyed shots on this station, huh?[/i] Lynn wanted to say, but this was a party, and the disaster was - [i]three hundred dead five of them yours, all yours, all - [/i] not what people talked about at parties. Lynn had never really been to a proper party before. She'd been to hangouts, or places where everyone was drinking together, but it wasn't an occasion like this, if that made sense. She was enjoying it. She was vibing it. Had she been noticing the clothes on Eli or Keaton before, the way their jackets hung off the shoulders that stood what felt like half a foot taller than hers? Lynn couldn't remember.

Lynn followed her and Keaton to the table, a slack grin hanging on her face, a stray strand of hair leaning down over her pale forehead. Someone else joined up and it took Lynn a brief moment to remember her. [i]Amelia,[/i] Lynn thought. She thought she could see her look afraid for just a minute, but coming up and talking was such an [i]anti-bitch move[/i], a really unexpectedly [i]anti-bitch move[/i] coming from her. Lynn stared at her for a second - or maybe five - but Lynn wasn't upset. She would've cattle-branded her with the back of her hand a month ago, but if Amelia had snitched, Gennedy would've put the needle in her weeks ago. He had ample opportunities. No, Amelia had stumbled across something she hadn't, and when things went to hell on the station, she stayed snuggly and cozy in the station. Lynn could understand that. It made Amelia a bit of a coward, but coward was several orders of magnitudes above snitch in the Cordelia Lynn Holmes' caste system. There was a part of Lynn, slithering out from the cracks in her brain loosened apart by liquor, that thought Clarita was probably about Amelia's age by now, and that was about her age by now, and - 

"Didn't know I'd be here either," Lynn said, grinning. Was she grinning a lot? Who cared. "People winding up in all sorts of places these days," Lynn said, giggling slightly. [i]Lots of places, all over the place today. I know a guy who's in about a dozen different places right now, and a lady who is too! Gary and Arianna, wouldn't they be a dream...Gary-anna...heh[/i] Besides, there were a few people not here that was fine by Lynn. Today was a good day. Nobody was going to fuck that up. Not Amelia, or Gennedy, or the lizard, or nobody. Not nobody at all. "Teleport this shit into your liver," Lynn said, grabbing a jello shot and passing it - possibly warmed - to Amelia. She'd been silly to worry about a set-up or something. There was so much alcohol here nobody would dare try to fuck with her. It felt fun, to be safe. Warm and [i]laughing[/i] and it tasted like tequila. Lynn liked it. 

"More the merrier!" Lynn said back to Keaton. "Like reindeer." She looked at the edge of the woods where one guy was walking up like a walk-on to the 1976 Saigon chopper gunners b-team. Jesus. He needed some liquor in him. Not super tall. Of course that was relative to Lynn. Big ol' rolex on his wrist. [i]That'd buy a lot more tequila,[/i] Lynn thought. [i]Easy mark, too, he came here alone.[/i] Lynn frowned. No, she forgot this was the Promise. He could probably see the future or something. Besides, she was already toeing the illegality line with buying liquor under the table and buying Xanax a few dozen feet under where she bought liquor. Lynn blinked, brow furrowing for a brief moment. Had she had some today? She took some to help her sleep, but had that been this morning or the night before?

"I'll leave one on the table," Lynn said in magnanimous compromise. "The other stays with me, under the table." Lynn looked up at Keaton. She was [i]pretty[/i]. She wasn't that much taller than Lynn, really, which Lynn found comforting. Older, though. She was skinny but the good kind. Normally these things would've jabbed at Lynn's state of mind like hornets but tonight they were bees and they stung once and snapped off. No more buzz. Lynn was buzzed. Buzzing. Buzz. Keaton was staring at it and Lynn could tell her Sherlock shit was going looney tunes. Didn't she ever not overthink things? Lynn would have to help her with that sometime, she resolved. "Hey, Denim," Lynn said, "Stop trying to do calculus on it and just drink." Lynn ran a pinky along the rim of the jello cup and then squeezed it out into her mouth. "Ah, love jello. Used to have it all the time." [i]Half true,[/i] Lynn thought. [i]I always gave it to Megan when it came at lunches, but I guess I did HAVE it.[/i] Keaton still looked all wound up, like if somebody had cross-stitched a picture of an angry person with chain mail. [i]I'll get her tipsy,[/i] Lynn said. [i]Dead girls oughta have a little fun.[/i] But it was hard to remember they were dead tonight - increasingly hard - and Lynn was enjoying it. She looked back to Eli, who was older too. How long had she been on the Promise? How much shit had gone down? A quiet voice wondered how many fights she'd seen, or how many people [sub]she'd seen die in four years, or four weeks, or four people[/sub] or more of these dances. [i]Denzel would know how to shop for stuff,[/i] Lynn thought, looking over her for a moment. [i]Or even Amelia, fuck. What was her nickname? I can't call her Amelia. If Denim and Denzel got married their name would be Denzel. Garriana. Heh.[/i] Lynn scanned around again, where Beth or whatever Eli's friend was flirting with some dude, which made Lynn frown for a second. Then she looked back and shadow guy was still in the shadows doing shadow shit. [i]If he was like ten feet further back I could have that Rolex,[/i] she thought. "Did you guys know fake Rolexes tick?" Lynn said idly to the group, looking around. "And - " she grinned wider, like a shark that's seen a "Fish!" Lynn shouted. "Splish splash your ass over here," she said, spotting the ethnic unicorn prince-prancing over to the treeline. [i]I should make a funny joke about his parents later,[/i] Lynn thought. [i]There's so many,[/i] Lynn thought, [i]And the best part is he can't get me back.[/i] She was absentmindedly swirling the tequila bottle in her hand. If one's cards were entirely on the table, Lynn's would reveal that she was hoping this guy would trip and fall again on the walk over. Or just to mess with him. He seemed pretty reclusive when she'd tried to help him put his teeth back in his mouth on that treadmill. Holing up in his shell. Like a turtle. Turtle fish. [i]Turtle Fish[/i].

Christ, if Rolex stood in the dark any longer he was going to buy a trench coat and start flashing them. Wouldn't that be fitting for today. [i]Nice of somebody to invite Gary![/i] Lynn wondered if she should invite him over. [i]No,[/i] she thought. [i]I'm bad with people.[/i] "Hey," Lynn said, nudging Eli's forearm with the top of her head. She left a faint smudge of ash. "Somebody wth more, whatever, like, charm or shit should go tell tall dark and blandsome to come take a shot and start talking to people." She unscrewed the tequila and took another pull. "Any of you three qualify." Lynn looked at him for a minute longer. [i]This one is a male Spoons,[/i] she determined. No eye contact. Military jacket? Not as a para. Probably his grandpa from Vietnam or something. Everybody's grandpa fought in Vietnam. [i]A...Forks.[/i] Lynn looked back up. Keaton was watching her a bit, as was Eli. Like they were waiting for something. [i]I'm not the one who PMS'es into a crocodile, damnit,[/i] she wanted to say, but talking about him was not what she felt particularly inclined to do right now. She wasn't sure what else they'd be looking at her for. Like, worried, almost. Did they think she couldn't handle her liquor? [i]I was drinking before you bitches went bra shopping,[/i] Lynn also contemplated. [i]And before I went bra shopping. Which still hasn't hapened, so, you know. Whatever.[/i] Lynn sipped again. "I'm gonna grab a beer," Lynn said, putting the tequila in Deaton's arms before meandering over to the table and searching for anything she recognized. Wine. Who drank wine? She picked up the bottle and examined the label. [i]Malbec. From Argentina.[/i] She put it down. There was a long list of things she did not want to think about tonight and they consisted mostly of Lizard Boat, Salamandra, the station, Gennedy, anything that wasn't the alcohol in front of her, and Che. She would accept topical conversation about Fish's latest mile times and estimates on how many shots she could do, which Lynn intended to disprove entirely. The rest of the alcohol was weird. There was hard seltzer, and while Lynn had said she didn't want to fight tonight, she felt vaguely obligated to slap whoever drank that, and there was vodka, which was at least acceptable, and some Jack Daniel's, which was cool.  

"Oh, sweet," Lynn thought, seeing Fireball. Lynn grabbed a plastic cup, frowning. "Damnit," she muttered. She searched for a tray of pot brownies someone had brought, grabbing the aluminum foil that covered it and wrapping the base of the cup in it. Then she poured a mix of ice and Coke and Fireball together and swirling it for a moment. "Why the fuck did I bother with ice?" Lynn [s]thought[/s] said, turning back to the group. She didn't feel as weird about how many people here she didn't know before. There were boys, too. For a sudden minute a thought smashed through all the dance-happy haze, that thought being that Lynn could kiss anyone here she wanted. She could grab them by the hand and pull them into the forest and forget all the fuck about the Promise tonight. Lynn would've stomped that thought out with a size six and a half steel toed boot any other night. Tonight it was intriguing. Like Fireball.

Lynn walked back. "So, what was everybody's first drink? And when?" Lynn asked. This was how people made conversation, right? She didn't know what to talk about with these people. Delinzel was into Vietnamese food and Keaton sometimes just like thought too much so Lynn didn't know what to say. Why bother, when the other person's just smarter? [i]I should get her dumbfuck drunk,[/i] Lynn thought. She blinked, realizing she'd swayed slightly. [i]Heh. Race to the bottom.[/i]