Wracked and ravaged, Renee drifts down to herself, stronger than she's ever been. She clenches her fists. Triumphant and satisfied, she opens her mouth and roars to the heavens.
Her roar sounds, but there's no echo.
She opens her eyes. Nothingness again. She looks around. To her left and right, above and below her, everything is black. She frowns. Where is everything?
Don't be afraid, the monolithic voice sounds from above.
Renee looks up.
Now, me.
At first there's nothing, then there's a pinkish, resonant glow.
Renee squints at it. It's distant, but growing closer. It's a point, then a figure. It has a shape, movements. It's a person, walking toward her. They're not tall… In fact, it's a small shape. A child.
A point comes where Renee meets her eyes, and she gasps, a shock of cold running through her being.
'Don't!' the child cries, reaching out desperately. 'Please don't run! I won't hurt you! I promise!' She shrinks back, biting her thumb. 'I won't hurt you again. I didn't mean to, the first time…'
"It's you…" Renee breathes. It comes back to her, finally. The experiment. Her standing in the isolation chamber, wearing the void tech armor that would theoretically protect her. They had opened the artifact containment unit. The brilliant light. At first Renee had seen it as energy, radiation. Then she saw that it had a shape. A body. A being. And then…
Renee shrinks back.
"Please!" the little girl pleads. "I won't hurt you! I promise! I didn't know I would hurt you before, I just…" Her face is screwed up, her sorrow plain to see. She's not made of flesh. She's a body of pink, brilliant energy, a billion crystal points of colored light comprise her form. "I just wanted to touch someone."
The girl is wringing her hands. Her lightning eyes prove capable of shedding tears. She stares entreatingly at Renee, but she doesn't move.
Seeing her had sent a shock of fear through Renee. The same fear she'd felt in that moment at the impossible thing happening to her.
But this… this is no monster. Her clothes are comprised of the same matter she is, but Renee can tell she's wearing a simple, wide skirted dress. Like a country colonist's daughter would be dressed in when going outside to play. She has simple leather strap sandals with no socks. Her hair is shoulder length and shaped into loose curls, but with many loose strands. She looks about six.
In spite of the unfathomable energies that seem to comprise her, this is just a little girl.
The muscles around Renee's brows firm up. Despite the fact that they're both floating in nothingness, she bends down slightly, closer to her height. "What's your name?"
The girl is still in distress, but her eyes open up more and her brow pinches. "Alora."
"Alora, huh? Well, my name is Renee. But did you already know that?"
Alora glances to the side for a second and looks back at Renee. She nods.
"I didn't expect to find you where I did, Alora. You really surprised me."
"I'm sorry!" the girl replies eagerly, leaning up on her toes. She reigns herself in. "I didn't know what to do… it had been so long since I'd seen someone. Since someone had seen me."
"You weren't always like this, were you, Alora?"
The girl shakes her head.
"Do you know how you got like this?"
At that question, the emotion slides of Alora's face until she has a blank expression. She looks to the side, staring a long way off. She plays nervously with one of her fingers. Eventually, she turns back to Renee.
"I don't know what happened, not really. But I remember…" She looks at her feet. "I don't really want to talk about it."
"That's okay, Alora, you don't have to tell me what it was like. Did you used to live on Typhon?"
She perks up, recognizing the name. She nods.
Renee feels a pulse of sadness for Alora. The pieces are starting to come together.
Even though there's nothing beneath her, Renee kneels until they're at the same height. "I was there, that day."
Alora's eyes go wide. "You were? You're still alive?"
"I wasn't on Typhon. I was up in space. But I saw it."
"Oh… what did it look like?"
Renee pushes back at the pain threatening to creep into her features. Alora doesn't need to see that. "Bad. I'd rather not say, either."
Alora nods in understanding.
"I'm sorry it happened."
"I know it was the Guverment," says Alora. "My dad…" Her eyes lose focus again for a second, then return to Renee. "My dad worked for them. He'd talk about them. I know they did something bad." Her cheek pinches. "That's all I know."
"And when you woke up, you were like this?"
Alora nods plainly.
"And you've been here ever since?"
Alora frowns. "Well… not here. Here is where I helped to put you back together."
Renee frowns. "W… where is here, then?"
Alora seems to think for a few moments, screwing up her lips. "I don't know. I mean, I know, I made this place. But I don't know how to explain it to you. I know a lot of things you don't, I think."
Renee blinks. She made this place? "I'm sure you're right. Have you been here ever since that day?"
"Here. The Shadow Lands. Other places. Yeah."
"Are there others like you in those places?"
"Like me? No… not like me. Not like us."
"Oh…" Renee doesn't hide her sympathy. "I'm sorry you had to be alone."
Sadness creeps back into her small features and she looks to the side, tears in her eyes.
"Were you scared?"
This time, confusion creeps onto her features. "Of what?"
"Of the others you were talking about."
Alora considers that for a second, then of all things, starts giggling.
Renee's lips curl into a smile, but she's confused. "What?"
"Um…" Alora thinks. "I used to be small. Well," she looks at herself, "I still am. And some of the others are scary, it's true, but… Now, I'm strong. Really strong. Stronger than dad."
"Oh…" Renee chuckles. "They were no danger to you, then."
Alora shakes her head, smiling.
Renee smiles back. "You must be strong, to have gone for so long by yourself."
Alora's features fall again.
"But you missed other people."
She nods.
Renee frowns. She thinks for a few moments. "I wonder if I could help you, now that I remember everything."
"Help me what?"
"Well… help you come back to my reality. My world."
"Oh… no, I don't think you can do that. I could do that if I wanted. I tried at first, but…" Alora is searching for words again. "I think if I did that, I'd…" She gestures. Her hands sweep to the sides in a 'no' gesture. "Go away."
"Oh," says Renee, understanding. "You have to stay here, then."
Alora nods. Her eyes light up. "But!" She reigns herself in again and brings her balled hand to her mouth. Her eyes say she's thinking something but she shouldn't say it.
"It's okay, Alora. Tell me what you're thinking."
Alora's nervous. "I could go with you."
Renee frowns. "I don't understand."
"You could carry me back there. I wouldn't go away."
"How would that work?"
Alora's eyes dart to the side. She looks guilty. She hesitates for several moments, not meeting Renee's eyes. "It's what I tried to do before."
Renee retracts her head in understanding. That day, the experiment. Alora's hand on her chest, and the impossible explosion of energy that followed. "Oh…"
"I'm sorry," Alora whispers. "I know I was bad."
Renee thinks about it. Alora's discomfort is increasing. "You should have asked first."
Her face is the image of the scolded child.
"But I understand. You were desperate."
Alora's brow wrinkles. "Despertate?"
"You wanted to come back very, very badly."
Alora nods eagerly.
"Do you think… did it feel like it could have worked?"
Alora plays with her fingers again. She thinks. "I think so, but…"
"But what?"
"I shouldn't say…"
"Tell you what," says Renee, "you be honest with me, and I'll be honest with you. Okay?"
Apprehensive, Alora nods. Renee waits. "You were frajul," says Alora quietly.
"Oh." It doesn't feel entirely good. But from Alora's perspective, she's not surprised that's what it felt like. "To be honest, Alora, you're right. I was."
"It did work, a little, though."
"What do you mean?"
"You took part of me with you, when you went away. I was connected to you that way. It's how I could call you, and you heard me. It helped you, too. In your games."
Renee blinks. "You're talking about my abilities."
"Well, they came from me. So they were kind of ours…"
However Renee thought she would finally arrive at the solution to how her powers had come into existence, she did not think it would be like this.
"I never knew that, Alora. Thank you for helping me."
"You're welcome!" Alora pips happily. "I could help you more, but…" She bites her thumb again.
"I know. You don't want to hurt me again."
Alora nods.
"I'll tell you what. Would you like to try?"
Alora pulls her thumb out of her mouth. "…what?"
"I was fragile before, but now I feel as strong as I've ever been. Do you want to try again?"
Her eyes say she wants it very much, but Alora's brow is all furrowed. "Are you sure? What if…"
"Then I guess you can put me back together again. Alora, it's like this—" Renee hesitates. Her hand is a few inches from Alora's shoulder. Renee was going to touch her reassuringly. Alora looks at her hand. Renee is hiding it well, but Alora's story is killing her. She has to help. She has to find a way.
Gently, Renee rests her hand on Alora's shoulder.
A very unelectric shock shoots through her hand and immediately fills her body, it's stunning and disorienting. But… not necessarily painful. It's new. It's like drinking light.
Renee blinks a few times. She refocuses to find Alora looking at her with a fearful expression. Renee squeezes her shoulder.
"It's like this, Alora. Even though I've been down there and you've been out here, I've also spent a lot, a lot, a lot of time alone. And that makes me sad. So the thought of you being stuck here, alone, that makes me sad, too. I don't think I can have that. So one way or another, I want to help you."
Alora's brows are pinched together. Her breathing is accelerated. She seems to be relishing Renee's touch, but she's afraid as well. She takes a deep breath. "And you're sure?"
Olwe, one of the instructors at Pilot Camp, had once told them that a Pilot needs to know how to find that place of total certainty, and after that, to live there. Renee had proven good at it.
She smiles. "I'm sure."
She releases Alora's shoulder and waits.
Alora's got a look of real determination on her face as well. It's showing her inner strength. That must be how she's survived alone for so long.
"Okay," she says. "If it goes weird again… I'll do whatever I can to protect you. Okay?"
"Okay."
Alora raises her hand, then hesitates.
"What is it?" Renee asks.
"Thank you," Alora replies.
Then the little girl lays her hand on Renee's chest, and she's falling into the Sun again.
Bangalore puts another dish in the dry rack by the sink, making a small clatter. She sees movement outside the window over the sink. Down and across the street, some kids are kicking a ball through the dry dirt. They're frantic and happy.
She sighs quietly and picks up the next dish. She sees her pocket tab light up. Another message from Mirage. He's been repeatedly trying to get her to go out on the town with him. She's gonna have to cave eventually. She just doesn't feel like it yet. She scrapes at the new plate with the scrubbing pad.
She hasn't decided to mourn Renee, yet. She's not sure what she's supposed to do. She'd grilled Singh for minutes about what happened, why she just disappeared like that. He was terrified, he'd have told her whatever she wanted. He said he didn't know. He said the instruments told him she had traveled to the Void, whatever that is, but that she should have been back by now. He said tracking her was impossible.
Elliot was worrying at her with the urgency of their eminent escape. It was Pathfinder that had finally gotten her to drop the useless fuck to the floor and take the lead on getting them out of there.
She can still see her so clearly, standing in front of that dangerous… thing, looking over her shoulder and smiling at Anita. Like she was supposed to understand.
The next dish makes a louder clatter as she drops it into the rack. Anita catches herself, and then picks up another dish.
She hasn't decided to mourn her yet. She just wishes she could know what happened.
The whole thing reminds her way too much of Jackson.
Then, there's a knock at the door.
Anita turns, annoyed. Is that Elliot, determined to pry her out of her apartment? No, his knocks are manic, like him. She puts the dish down, dries her hands, walks to the door and opens it partway.
Renee stares back, an apprehensive look on her face.
"Renee…" Anita breathes. The tension she'd been carrying in her facial muscles for weeks melts away.
Renee's wearing a gray button down and green cargo pants, typical for her. Her hair's up, like usual. She looks like she knows she's in trouble.
"I'm sorry," Renee leads. She's entwining her fingers nervously. "I can explain."
The frown creeps back onto Anita's face. She is angry, and worn out. The corner of her mouth hardens. "You better." She pushes the door open and walks back into her living room.
She hears Renee enter behind her and close the door. Anita sits down on her couch. There's a broken in little leather chair across the coffee table. Renee sits in it.
Anita waits with her legs spread and her elbows resting on her knees. Her expression hasn't changed too much. She gestures for Renee to start.
"It's going to be a long story."
Anita considers her for a few seconds, then gets up. She walks into the kitchen and boils two cups' worth of water in the kettle, filling the percolation chamber with some of her chai. She even adds milk and honey to Renee's, since she likes that.
She sets the steaming mug in front of Renee wordlessly, and sits back down.
Renee takes a sip and sets it on the table in front of her. She starts.
"I didn't know the real reason I had to find that station. I'd forgotten, like I'd forgotten a lot of things. I'd wanted to forget. Back then. But things had changed. I wanted to remember. And I knew how. I just didn't realize it.
"Singh was only part of the reason I was hunting him. I said what I needed to say to him. But the bigger reason I was there was…" Renee hesitates. There's a strange look on her face, half-smiling. She puts up air quotes. "Was 'the artifact.'"
"That doll?"
"Yeah."
Wordless, Anita gets up and walks into the other room. She walks to the nightstand and grabs the doll she'd left there on their return, weeks ago. She walks back into the living room and lays the doll on the table.
Renee gasps, her eyes widening. She reaches out and clutches the doll to her chest.
Anita stares, startled by the reaction.
"Oh, um… We'll get to that later." But instead of putting the doll on the table she lays it gently in her lap. "I'll explain why after, but 'the artifact' was what had… shattered me, on the day of the experiment, years ago. And it was the key to putting me back together."
"What are you talking about?"
"Anita," says Renee, "I remember everything."
Slowly, Anita's eyebrows climb. If that's true… "Really?"
"Do you want to hear?"
"I imagine I ought to."
Renee takes a deep breath. In their time together, Anita's grown pretty good at reading her. She's still apprehensive, and she has reason to be. But there's something else, in her eyes. There's a fullness, a confidence, and not just like when they're in the games and she's determined to win. Anita knows that look. There's more of a stillness in them now. A peace.
"I was born on Earth, it turns out."
"Really?"
"That's right. No siblings. Mom and dad took good care of me, though we were poor. We lived down in the Down Blocks—dense, ground level housing—on the East side of Colorado. One of the oldest names in the North American Affiliates. I saw a lot of fights, of course. You get jumped unless you can pay for private transit, which of course we couldn't. Suited me fine, I—"
"Kicked a lot of ass?"
"Yes, I did." That brings a smile out of Renee, which is nice, because from the look on her face, talking about her parents seems to be pretty hard for her. Anita shifts in her seat.
"I didn't do so well in school, though. What we had for school was basically accelerated trade training and they ran kids like we were military. I hated it. Got into a lot of fights, too. My grades… They weren't great. And my dad was sick, and getting worse. I knew I needed to make money for us. They couldn't work forever. Heaven forbid my mom get sick, too. Way we had to eat, cancer drifted like an invisible killer through those blocks.
"In the end, I took a ten year contract with the IMC. The pay was about as good as you can get when you don't have any kind of qualifications. Competitive, down there."
"I've heard," Anita says softly. Renee's keeping it together well, but she can sense the current of feeling in her chest.
"I made some friends in training, but it wasn't meant to be. Good old IMC. I was scheduled to serve as a security grunt for at least two years on Saturn. But the data streams got crossed somewhere. They put me under ice and shipped me to the Frontier."
"Jesus," says Anita, doing the math in her head, "that would—"
Renee is nodding. "I woke up 28 years later. Mom and dad were both gone."
A long, deep breath draws quietly into Anita's lungs. "Shit…" She doesn't know what to say, she feels stupid.
Renee just nods, smiling thankfully. "I got distractions quick, though, because all of the sudden I was in the Frontier War. Fighting all over the place, I made it a few deployments before a near miss with a grenade made me fall and shatter my right leg. No fancy regeneration for me. They put me in a bed and told me it would be six months. I didn't know anyone. I might have just rotted away, there, but a Lieutenant Colonel Haltwell saw something in me, and he let me tool around on-planet in labs intended for engineers."
Renee smiles wistfully, looking off into the distance. "I really needed that. I was a pain in Velasquez's side, but he was a pain in the ass, too, so it balances out. Six months later some vet comes walking into the lab and I figure I'm about to be deployed again, but it turns out he's a pilot. Between my combat performance and my work in the lab, Haltwell scouted me for the Pilot program."
"Yeah…" says Anita slyly, "you told me about that."
"Yeah, yeah, talk your shit. I started as a grunt, too."
Anita just smiles ruefully and gestures for her to continue.
"I said yes. Went to camp. Made the cut." Renee stalls, then, her eyes sliding to the side. She waits a few moments. "Then I met Anise."
Anita's brow pinches for a second. There's a lot of feeling in that name for her. "That your Big Brother?"
"Big Sister, in my case." Renee breaks into a smile. "She was a piece of work. Talented snark. She had her match in me, though. And when the time came, we fought like hell. They stuck some badges on me. We saw a lot of fighting."
She just stops then. Her features fall. Whatever she's feeling, she's stuck in it. Anita decides to help her. "And then?"
Renee's eyes snap up to her. "On the ashy, blasted plains of Xanthus, during a losing battle, Anise took a lethal hit and was immobilized." There's a bitter stiffness in the corners of Renee's mouth. Her eyes are glassy. "She told me to leave her and I wouldn't. Such as things were, though, that'd have gotten me killed, and Anise didn't like that. She activated her self-destruct." She wipes one eye quickly. "I made it."
Anyone who's served any time in the IMC has heard about the connection that Pilots form with their Titans. For the grunts, it's generally dismissed, even ridiculed. Never in the presence of a Pilot, though, unless a fight was what you were looking for.
Like most, Anita has looked at it funny, from a distance. This is the first time it starts making real sense to, her, though. Because she doesn't know what that connection is like. But she knows the face of someone who lost a dear friend on the battlefield.
"I was taken off-planet and evaluated. 'Unfit for further deployment.'"
"Sever Shock." Anita says it without thinking and immediately regrets it.
"Yeah, I've heard it called that, too. Doesn't really do it justice."
"I'm sorry." Anita's cheek scrunches. "I'm sorry, Renee, I really am. You don't have to say it, I can see it."
"Thanks," Renee replies softly. Her gaze drifts off, then she shakes her head gently. "Eventually, Haltwell came back to lift me out of that gloom. That's when he put me on the science track. With Singh."
Anita perks up.
"We were working on new tech, mainly Pilot-Titan stuff. It worked for me, because it felt like something I could do in Anise's name. Eventually, void tech was dropped in our laps. We started breaking ground. We had gear, just needed to test it. And no one was volunteering. I wasn't gonna let them use some hapless prisoner, so I volunteered." She winces. "It didn't go so well."
"Do you remember the experiment, too?"
Renee nods a few times. "Okay," she starts, "this is where it gets a little weird." She turns to the side. "Alora? Do you want to…?"
Anita is about to ask who Renee is talking to when there's a sprinkling of neon pink light next to the coffee table.
Anita shoots to her feet, staring at it in shock. It swirls for a moment and takes on the shape of… of a young, human girl. Her skin is diamond dust, her eyes like star clusters. Anita gapes.
"Don't stare at her like that," says Renee with obvious amusement. "Are you gonna introduce yourself?"
"Introduce…" Anita glances between them in shock. She looks at the manifestation. "Who…?"
Alora's something like Anita's never seen before, but she's also a little girl, and those she is familiar with. She's cute, with curly hair and a little country dress. Her brows are pinched up, she looks uncomfortable, nervous even. Anita's making her feel bad.
This is crazy, but so is she and her best friends. Anita gets down on one knee, closer to Alora's height. "Alora, was it? My name is Anita." She holds out her hand.
Alora looks at it, the ghost of a smile appearing on her lips. She reaches out and shakes it, and a feeling like a painless shock shoots through Anita's arm. "Whoa!" she exclaims, retracting and looking at her hand.
Alora giggles. "Sorry. That just happens."
"Alora, how do you…?" Where does she even begin?
Alora hesitates and looks at Renee.
"Alora's from Typhon," Renee says simply. Anita's eyes snap to her. "After… that day, Alora took up residence in what I call the Void, unable to return to our dimension, but tied to it, by..." Renee trails off, pointing at the doll.
"Mr. Binkers," Alora says solemnly. She takes it from Renee's lap and holds it lovingly.
Renee continues. "She also had a lot of new 'gifts,' let's say. She lived out there for a long time, by herself. When that day came, and I brought Mr. Binkers out of his containment unit, it was a chance for Alora. She knew she could come back to this plane in part, if it was through another person. It didn't go so well. It's the reason for both my amnesia and my abilities. When I saw Alora again, two weeks ago, it was a chance for both of us. And it paid out."
"Paid out?" says Anita. "Like how?"
"I got my memories back. Alora gets to see and feel this reality again, through me. And in exchange, she shares her abilities with me."
"What kind of abilities?" Anita asks.
Almost like Alora did before, Renee responds with a kind of secret smile. She shakes her head, like it would be too hard to explain. She looks at her tea on the table. Suddenly, it begins glowing with that same pink light, then drifts through the air of its own volition into Renee's hands. It stops glowing and she takes a sip.
Anita knows her face is sorta screwed up, watching that. She thinks. "How far does that scale up, Renee?"
"Pretty far. And that's not all. But we can talk about that later. Alora and I are a team now. Not everyone can know about her. But I wanted you to know."
After a few seconds of silence, Anita drops into the couch with a thump. "Huh."
"I know, it's a lot."
"So what do we do now?"
"Whatever we want, I imagine. Although," Renee bites her lip. "I've got to see Elliot and Pathfinder."
"I imagine you do."
"Are they on-world?"
"They are, and in fact, Elliot has been all over me to go on the town with him."
"Why haven't you?"
Anita gives Renee a sober look. "I haven't felt like it."
Renee's features fall. She frowns subtly. "I'm sorry, Anita."
Anita was mad. That's all gone, now. She just shakes her head.
Anita's tab beeps from the kitchen. Renee glances at it. "Well… you want to now?"
Anita snorts. "Now, I think I need to."
"Now, they got me, like, a minute later, but anyway it was great, because I lobbed this Arcstar—see, Caustic—asshole—was holing up in this little shack, basically, taking pot shots. I waited for the doors to pop back open and I just lob this Arcstar, hits him right in the chest. Boom! Flatline! We placed twelfth, but hey, I—oh shit, I forgot, I haven't shown you yet!"
Renee can't help but smile at Mirage's word vomit. Especially once you get a couple drinks in him, he really gets going.
They're walking down a strip on the east side of Solace City. Sun's setting soon. It's warm, but not hot. Skies are clear, stars will be coming out soon. It's looking to be a beautiful night. This area of the city is popular in the younger crowds. Electronic music drifts out the doors of the saloons and clubs around them, some new and high-fabbed, others made of the regional sandstone that comprises the more historical buildings.
Alora's loving it.
Now Elliot's fiddling with his armband that controls his holos.
"I did a new one, some of my best work…"
"Babe," says Annika, "you show everyone."
"I know, cause it's great."
Anita's just smiling and shaking her head.
"I think it's impressive," says Pathfinder generously.
"Okay, here we go." Elliot conjures a holographic football in his right hand. He starts jumping around like a quarterback about to pass. "Go long!" A holo of himself appears a dozen or so meters away, running with his hands up as if to catch. Elliot tosses the ball, and indeed, it passes through the air and the holo dives and catches it in a roll.
Renee sticks her lips out. "Not bad, Ellie."
"Not bad? Do you know how many complex animations that involves? It's like…" He goes on and Renee indulges him, and as she figures after a minute or so, Annika gets his attention and they start going back and forth, keeping each other occupied. Annika's not manic, exactly, but she can match his verbal energy, her straight, cyan hair bobbing around as she gesticulates animatedly back to him. You'd think they'd exhaust each other, but they seem to feed into each other. It's kind of cute, actually. Maybe there's something there.
Renee turns to Pathfinder. "And how've you been, big guy?"
"Me? I've been great! Although, every now and then in my warehouse, I would walk by the picture of you, and when I saw it, I would get sad."
Renee's chest falls. "Oh, Pathy, I'm sorry."
"You don't have to be sorry! My friend came back! I'm just glad to have you again!"
Renee smiles. "The feeling is mutual. Hey… you have a picture of me?"
"Yes! From that beach on Gaea, remember?"
The bright sun and cold breeze come back to Renee. They'd had hot dogs and hiked into the forest. "Oh, yeah. That was nice, huh?"
"Yes, we should go back some time! And now that I know you're alive, it's possible again. Yay!"
There are mixed feelings in Renee's chest. She's still guilty. Not only had she brought them on that dangerous mission, she'd left them in the lurch. Something bumps her side.
It's Anita's elbow. "Don't get down on yourself now, Renee. No one likes a mope."
"Oh, yeah, yeah…" Renee's eyes drift to a sign in the distance. It's a ramen shop. Her stomach rumbles.
'Ooh, what's that?' asks Alora. She'd examined the memory of the taste of ramen.
'Something good,' Renee says inwardly. 'I'll share with you, but after that you have to give me the night off, okay?' Alora had explained to her that after the initial, explosive unification, she could come and go between Renee and the Void when she wished. And Renee's not about to take a little girl on a bar crawl.
'Okay…' says Alora, somewhat sullen.
"What are you thinking?" Anita asks, eyeing her suspiciously.
"Genjiro's," says Renee to her face. Anita's eyes climb as she remembers the name and Renee jogs out in front of them.
"Sake bombs!" shouts Elliot.
Renee's pretty sure he's gonna get plastered.
"Shit!" says Anita as her keycard clatters to the landing outside her apartment.
Moonlight drifts down to the leaves and bushes in the open courtyard below, but other than that, it's pretty dark.
"Shit!" Anita says again as she stumbles after the card, accidentally kicking it further away. Renee laughs. "Don't laugh, you—" Anita almost loses her balance. "You got me fucked up again."
"You're always—" Renee burps. "You're always blaming me." She laughs again.
"Damn it," says Anita, standing over the card and trying not to sway so she can actually pick it up. She succeeds. She looks at Renee and narrows her eyes, swaying slightly as she points the card at her. "We're not kids, you know. You can just stay at your place."
"I don't want to go!" Renee says defiantly. She tries to grab the card from Anita but she pulls it back.
"Too slow."
"Slow? I'm so, I'm so fast…" Renee grabs at the card again, almost stumbling herself.
Anita laughs. "You're so what? So… dumb?" She keeps holding the card out, baiting Renee, and Renee keeps missing.
Finally Renee makes a successful attempt, grabbing the card, but she overextended and starts to fall.
"Shit, asshole!" Anita laughs as she supports Renee, almost falling herself. There's a shitty tug-of-war over the card, which really only threatens to knock the both of them over. Eventually they careen into the wall.
Renee is unintentionally pinned under Anita. They can't really move because they're still in danger of falling over. They're breathing harder than should really have to. Their chests touch when they inhale.
They stay like that for a few seconds, looking at each other. Anita knows Renee can't see her face clearly, but she feels the heat on her cheeks. Renee's eyes glint in the low light.
"Trying to get rid of me?" Renee asks her.
"After losing you like I did?"
"Good, cause like I said…" Renee is leaning in. "I don't want to go…"
Anita is just shy of panicking. 'I want it' and 'I can't' are blaring at deafening levels in her mind.
Then their lips meet, and it's all that Anita can feel.