psychoshenanigans | Goodnight // AU

Entry tags:

coil,
zhas

Goodnight // AU

Zhas loves Halloween. And Zhas doesn't really love anything, so that's saying something.

The lights, the sounds, every painted face and every bizarre mask... The way everyone runs around, drinking and laughing at fairies and zombies alike. It's kind of ironic that the biggest holiday for vampires is also the one day a year that he refuses to do any work, often completely shedding his persona in favor of pretending to be something like a normal person.

He's gone halfway, now that he's convinced Coil to come. He's still mostly himself, but he's talking more. He interacts with people who approach him, he smiles strangers claps him on the shoulder for how kickass his face paint is. And he has to talk for Coil, of course, getting him things or explaining to strangers that try to ask the kid what he's supposed to be. It's usually a "joke" about him being a one-eyed, silent necromancer dressed up as a respectable gentleman, followed by waving him off as some obscure movie character if they don't have the right sense of humor for that sort of thing.

But while he has his fun, drinks up the sights, wanders plainly in the streets like he belongs there... He pays a lot of attention to Coil, too. Makes sure he's well-informed, makes sure not to take him anywhere he hasn't already been, tries to treat him to things he might like... Lets him explore anything he seems to have an interest in, hopes he doesn't come off like some pandering babysitter about the whole thing.

But really, after three or four drinks, Zhas's ability to worry about it completely vanishes. It isn't until after midnight that he finally settles them down somewhere, dragging Coil over to the little park in the middle of town and letting them collapse onto a bench for a little while. It's not a whole lot quieter--the place is filled with brave children playing hide and seek, teenagers negotiating candy trades, adults drunkenly trying to remember where they parked their cars--but it's sitting, and it's nice to have less immediate stimulation for a minute.

That, and to finish his drink. Zhas doesn't actually remember how he got this one out of the bar. But he's still holding it, and it's delicious, so he should finish it.

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It's probably a good thing that he waves his hand like that, because Coil's having some trouble focusing. Has that aspect gotten worse in the last few minutes? He should probably find some water.

But, right, he can't understand him. So, Coil first looks at his own hands as he tries to figure out what he was doing wrong to make it hard to--

Oh. He still has Zhas's drink. He should probably give that back.

So, he offers that instead, handing it toward him and clumsily shaking the glass a little, as if there would still be ice left to jingle.

Zhas has to shrug himself back up into properly sitting before he can reach out for the glass. He plucks it out of Coil's hand, just narrowly avoiding sloshing it all over the place.

But he's already busy smirking at him and putting the glass down somewhere so that he can sign and tell Coil that he's drunk. In the most self-satisfied way possible.

The accusation apparently hits him as something of a shock. He straightens up too--the slouching had just been to match Zhas, really. Surprised and indignant, he shakes his head!

And then he signs it back at Zhas. Clumsy and insistent. He's the one who's drunk here, not Coil!

Zhas chuckles to himself, shaking his head. He points to Coil, gestures for a little, and then fumbles around for where he put his drink.

No, no. Coil's drunk. And he's not going to be convinced otherwise--draining the rest of his glass so that he doesn't have to worry about it anymore.

He's fine, he insists. Perfectly fine.

And he's stubborn about it. He even folds his arms--a gesture which is normally not done with as much defiance behind it.

Aaaaand then he's laughing again, which is still kind of scary.

The last of his cigarette gets flicked into the grass. He stands after it, pitching forward with the difficulty of suddenly being on two feet--a situation fixed with an unsteady wobble and the repositioning of limbs. And then he's up and holding his hand out towards Coil and gesturing for him to come on, get up, like he'd never been unbalanced at all.

Time to go again, kid.

Coil's not drunk... until he tries to stand up.

Of course he doesn't take Zhas' hand, because he doesn't need it. He's obviously fine. So, he pushes himself up under his own power... and then does nothing but teeter there for a minute.

It's like magic. As soon as he's trying to actually use his legs, it's as if half of his brain pours out into them, and he's left with very little to do anything else with.

Give him a second. He needs to collect all his limbs together and get used to this awful blurred-up feeling in his head.

Zhas says something, but in that way he does that isn't actually words so much as a sound in the shape of something helpful. That hand is suddenly bracing Coil up at the shoulder, and he's got one of Coil's hands in his other, free one--and he'll just make sure he doesn't go toppling over into the grass.

He tugs on his hand after a minute, though. Come on, this way. Permanently smirking, of course.

He doesn't even know quite why he tries to shrug that hand off of his shoulder, aside from the fact that it generally goes along with his continued insistence that he's fine... though he is sure now that he's really not actually feeling very fine.

Luckily, however, Zhas has a hold of his hand, so he's kept on his feet when he almost throws himself off balance toward the bench again.

...Okay fine. He'll let him hang on. For now.

There we go. We're avoiding falling over, here. Zhas isn't exactly the epitome of grace right now either, but at least he's used to it. He signs for 'water', at least, so Coil will know where their next goal is.

He also switches over to Coil's bad side, keeping a close arm around his shoulder or at his back. The celebration will be winding down, but habits are habits.

Water is good. He's really thirsty, and he hates being thirsty, so he'll go along with that plan.

He's frowning almost immediately though, as he stumbles his way through their first steps. He doesn't like that one bit, and he can't tell if it's his own legs betraying him or if it's Zhas throwing him off.

So, since he can't glance over easily at his face like this, he's looking down at their feet. They're walking all out of synch, and the arm on his shoulder is messing with his balance. All he can do is look really disgruntled and just... try to make his steps match Zhas'.

His steps are kind of small and everything, since Coil's so short.

Thinking about it, he gives Coil kind of an unhelpful shrug in the shoulder. If it wasn't obvious that he thought the whole thing was funny before, he tries to sign out with his free hand that he could carry Coil there if he wants.

Coil's not finding the humor in this yet, apparently. The shrug irks him, and the helpful offer definitely makes it worse.

He tries to shrug into Zhas in retaliation, but is still kind of roped by the arm that is attached to that shoulder... so he just ends up jostling them both a little dangerously.

All right, all right. After he staggers a little, correcting them both back to the way that they were, he at least tries to get that smug, self-satisfied look off his face.

Luckily the place he was thinking of (and thank god he went in the right direction) is very close to the park, one of the many little vendors set up to keep people happy and make a quick buck in the process. Cheap beer, cheap food, that kind of thing. Zhas lets go of Coil near one of the temporary folding tables, hopes he'll find his own way down into a seat, and wanders up to get them a couple of bottled waters.

Oooh, they have hot dogs. That sounds good too.

And Coil is, once again, very thankful to be sitting down. Especially when he finds that he drops into the little folding chair harder than he means to.

Once there, he can calm down a bit. Which is a little odd, being that he hadn't realized that he'd even needed to do any calming down in the first place. He just feels a little rattled; it had snuck up on him.

So he's overall better by the time Zhas is heading back to the table. Slightly more used to things, looking a bit less touchy--arms folded on the table with chin resting down.

He appears again on the nearest table. Not in the chair, no. Sitting on top of the table, crossing up his too-long legs and leaning forward to hand Coil one of the two bottles.

He was going to get food, but then he decided not to, because he needed to ask Coil something. But now that he's here, he'd already forgotten what the question was, so it must not have been very important.

He's really got to fix his eye on that bottle before he reaches for it. Depth perception is mysteriously more difficult to judge right now. Once he's got it, though, he carefully works through downing about a third of it in one go.

And a moment after that is when it finally hits him that he hasn't really inspected their surroundings yet. He suddenly unnerves himself with this thought, and it results in some clumsy and paranoid-seeming glances around him. Noting where people are, the layout of the area, really trying hard to focus on what's all around them.

But... he's supposed to be relaxing, right? It's still an impossible concept for him to grasp. So, with one hand occupied with the water bottle, he tries to ask Zhas if they're really not supposed to be working right now? Is he sure?

While Coil focuses on what's around them, Zhas focuses in on Coil. Stares at him, really, mostly looking at his face and his features and the way he moves. He hasn't looked at Coil like that in a long time, actually--not since he met him.

But then he's got a question being put towards him and he has to stop staring to pay attention. He gestures back, both hands free, that yes. They are supposed to not be working right now. It's the one day a year he gets to do it. Zhas puts a heavy and almost hilarious emphasis on that one. It's really important. There's like three hundred and sixty-five days in a year, and just ooooone of those is to enjoy himself.

He rolls his eyes again. Coil's being such a kid.

Though he messily and begrudgingly signs that they could go back, or find a place to crash for the night, if Coil really wants... Since it's getting kind of late anyway. For normal people.

One day-- okay, okay, he gets it.

Which again puts him in the weird place between looking forward to it being over, and still wanting to somehow take advantage of it while he can. Not that he has any idea on how else to do that or anything.

So, he kind of slurs his way through a few different signs. He only has one speaking hand, he only mostly gets through each thought, and he kind of flattens out more on the table as he talks, so... Zhas might not catch any of it.

There is maybe a question about what time it is, and something about being hungry. And maybe something about sleeping, but it might have been said in the negative. ...Maybe. It's hard to tell.

... You are drunk, he signs again.

No, he shakes his head. But he's still kind of laying on the table when he does it, so he hoists himself onto his elbows after so he can shake his head again--more insistently.

Nevermind the fact that shaking his head makes him way dizzy. He's not drunk.

But you know who is drunk? Zhas. Who he's then pointing accusingly at.

Whoooa, now he's getting uppity. The way Zhas raises his hands up in surrender like that, smirking again--well, it hasn't been the first time he'd given up. Probably wouldn't be the last. Drinking kind of puts him on this repeating cycle.

But he reaches forward to ruffle his bangs again anyway. The only part of his hair that can really be ruffled without causing much ruin to the rest of his look.

He swats for his hand automatically, and it's at least a far more well-aimed strike than a typical drunken flailing. He might be intoxicated, but he's still got deeply-ingrained muscle memory on his side.

Though, if he does actually smack his hand out of the way, he'll be surprised about it. It happens before he thinks about it.

But, whatever. He stands by it.

Zhas looks a little surprised too, but in a good way. He might not have been so polite about it if he was sober, but then... Coil probably wouldn't have smacked his hand away if he were sober, either. Or he would have at least thought about it a little longer.

Hah, well. He's not done bothering him anyway. He reaches down into something in his coat, motioning vaguely for Coil to hold still with his other hand. A second later he's got something from a container smeared on his finger, and he's trying to reach forward and swipe Coil's face with it. He's going for his nose, since it's the easiest target.

Being that he just smacked Zhas when he didn't strictly mean to, he's not expecting whatever Zhas has to be particularly good.

So, he goes leaning back when Zhas comes for him, trying to keep distance between them long enough to figure out what he's got. It doesn't work, though, and he quickly runs out of leaning room.

He's got a grip on the table to keep himself upright, but neither himself nor the chair he's in have enough balance to keep that up. So, once he wobbles dangerously back once, he stops. And Zhas swipes him.

Totally confused, he reaches up to feel... what he just did...

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