tentacleTherapist [TT] began pestering turntechGodhead [TG]
TT: Not that I'm unhappy that you realized Braiden's effect on you…
TT: Why would you leave without telling anyone?
TG: oh man
TG: didnt want to risk word getting out
TT: Dirk and Roxy and I were out all night looking for you.
TG: i told dirk didnt i?
TT: Not until 8 in the morning.
TG: rose no offense but i really am not in the mood for a lecture
TT: I didn't mean to lecture.
TT: Sorry.
TT: But if your concern with telling me was really that I, of all people, would go running to Braiden to tell him where you were, then I'm not sure what to tell you.
TT: I've never cared for Braiden. Always got sort of odd vibes from him.
TT: Turns out it was not unwarranted.
TG: to be honest rose i just didnt think that much about it
TG: i just wanted to get away from him
TG: sort of panicked
TG: he broke my rib and that was the wakeup call
TT: My mother wants custody.
TG: no
TG: im gonna stay at johns
TG: his dad seems willing to help
TT: Somehow, I figured you'd say something like that.
TG: maybe dirk can get a place…
TT: Alright.
TT: I'm just glad you're okay.
TT: Talk to me about it if and when you feel comfortable.
TG: sure
TG: see ya later rose
turntechGodhead [TG] ceased pestering tentacleTherapist [TT]
Rose sighed. It was too early in the morning to have conversations like that.
Roxy was laying her head on her desk in English class when Calliope came in and Roxy was suddenly very embarrassed by her behavior at the party.
"Roxy, are you feeling alright?" Callie asked as she took her seat next to Roxy.
"Yeah. Just tired." Roxy sat up, taking a sip from her water bottle. Oh right, that wasn't water. "Had a long weekend."
Callie frowned at Roxy. "You did have a big party."
"Not that. My babiest cousin ran away and me and Dirky and Rose spent hours looking for him. Apparently, he went to his BFF's place."
"Ah, I see."
Simply recollecting that Sunday morning made Roxy crave a drink, so she took another sip, but she was becoming aware of what a crutch it was becoming.
Rose let out a sigh as she took her knitting out, still thinking about Dave's refusal to accept her help. "Damn that kid and his toxic masculinity," she muttered.
"What do you mean?" Roxy asked.
"Dave's got it so in his head that being strong and tough and not showing emotions is the only way to 'be a man', which was no doubt brought on by Braiden's bullshit." Her fist clenched at the very mention of Braiden. "You know those sayings like, 'you fight like a girl' and equating gay or supposed weak men to women and 'pussies'? That's toxic masculinity. Dave's too afraid to ask for help, especially from us, because he thinks it will make him look weak… I think."
Roxy sighed, nodding along to Rose's explanation. "Yeah… poor kiddo."
"It's a societal problem, but… I don't know. Braiden seems to embody it." The girls were quiet for a moment, and then Roxy let out a sigh.
"Rose?" she asked. Rose looked up from her knitting.
"Yes?"
"Do you think I have a problem?"
"I think everyone has problems; you'll have to be more specific."
"Like a drinking problem."
Rose blinked in surprise. She never really expected Roxy to address the issue so directly. "Well… what do you think?" she asked, knowing it would mean more if Roxy came to the conclusion that yes, clearly she had a drinking problem, herself.
"I think…" Roxy started, "well. I think I told Jane I want to quit? I don't remember most of Saturday night. But I think I said it, and I wouldn't have said it when I was drunk unless I meant it, right?"
"Mhm, go on."
"And I think… whenever I get overwhelmed or stressed out, I drink, and that can't be healthy. So… maybe I shouldn't rely on alcohol as a coping mechanism. I think, if I do, it will just… it might… I'm kind of afraid, if I don't clean my shit up, it will just push away everyone I care about."
"So…"
"So I should probably quit, right?" Roxy asked, unsuredly.
"That's up to you," Rose shrugged, returning to her knitting. She knew the answer was yes, Roxy should definitely quit, or at least severely cut back, but pressuring her to do so wasn't going to be productive. Roxy sighed. Dirk really wanted her to quit, and Jane probably did too, even if she was too nice to say as much. Callie certainly wasn't impressed by her behavior, either. Roxy didn't want to end up alone like Bro as about to—albeit for different reasons. And then anger swelled inside her. Bro. That garbage. She needed to give him a piece of her mind. She stood up very tensely and grabbed her keys out of the bowl on the side table. Rose looked up at her suddenly.
"Where are you going?"
"To give that jackass a butt-whoopin'."
Roxy stood outside The Tipsy Goat, simply flashing a smile at the bouncer, who recognized her and let her in without batting an eye. As always, the bar was dimly lit, save for a handful of colorful, fluorescent lights around a DJ booth, where, lo and behold, Braiden was working, thick headphones around his neck as the lights reflected across his shades. Roxy scowled, and very quickly turned to the bartender.
"Can I get, uh, a lemon drop?" Roxy saud, batting her eyelashes. She was only able to get into the bar because of Braiden, and she was about to sever that tie, so might as well make the most of the evening, she reasoned, despite her earlier thoughts. After finishing the drink, Roxy ordered another, then turned back to face the DJ booth and shot a fake smile at Bro. A flash of recognition crossed his face and once the set ended, he stepped down and approached Roxy. Disgust and anger turned in her gut, but she still feigned friendliness as Braiden leaned against the counter.
"An 805 for me," he said, then turned his attention to Roxy. "Hey Rox."
"Hey Bro," she answered. He always insisted she call him Bro. Rose had never taken to it, always calling him Braiden, even to his face. But Roxy never minded calling him Bro, until just then. Regarding him as a brother tasted like lead in her mouth, and she hated it.
"So, blowing off some steam here?"
"Yeah. Had kind of a stressful weekend."
"Same here," Braiden said, just as his beer arrived. He took a sip. "Dave disappeared." His voice was nonchalant. "You haven't heard from him, have you?"
And them Roxy couldn't keep her temper anymore, and she swung her arm around and tossed her drink in his face. Braiden recoiled backwards.
"Gah, what the fuck?!"
"Yeah, serves you right!" Roxy shouted at him. "You are the worst. The actual FUCKING WORST!" She kept shouting as he slunk away through the staring crowd, towards the bathroom. Roxy sighed and leaned back on the counter as people began to mind their own business again—she figured it wasn't the first time that happened in a bar. She was tempted to buy another drink, but her thought was interrupted by a familiar voice.
"So, Rox, you get snubbed by the DJ or something?" Roxy turned to see none other than Porrim Maryam, a very fun, very pretty girl Roxy had met at a feminism seminar at Skaia U.
"Porrim! What is up!" Roxy immediately felt more at ease. "And God, no. He's my cousin, but he's a real piece of shit."
"What kind of piece of shit are we talking about, like Ampora levels, or…?" Roxy pursed her lips for a moment. Ampora? Wasn't that the kid who—oh, no, his brother. Roxy had heard about Cronus.
"Oh, you meant the older one."
"Yeah."
"Okay, that makes more sense," Roxy muttered. "Um, no, not like 'skeezy guy hitting on me and throwing a pity party for himself to get laid' piece of shit. Like physically and emotionally abusing his youngest brother piece of shit."
"Ohhhh…" Porrim had a perfectly sympathetic look on her face. Roxy was starting to regret her entire course of action.
"Honestly I don't even know why I'm here tonight, he's the only reason we can even get in. I came out just to throw the drink at him I guess? Not like it's going to change anything." Admittedly, it did feel pretty good.
"Come on, let's get a table, we can talk about it." Roxy nodded at Porrim, and then Porrim waved a third girl over, and the three made their way to the patio, where it was much quieter.
"Hey GIRL," Porrim's friend said, beaming at Roxy. "I'm Latula."
"Roxy Lalonde."
"So, Rox, what's this with your cousin?" Porrim asked.
"Oh. So I got a message from Dirky yesterday asking if I'd heard from Dave but I didn't see it until later cause I was HELLA hungover from my own Halloween party, and I didn't know what was going on so I went to talk to Rose who said that Dave messaged her and he was hiding out at his friend John's place?" Roxy explained, leaving out the part that they'd searched for hours. Actually, the detailed were all sort of blurred together. Hadn't it been Dirk who messaged her first? "Anyway so we all do some prodding together and through a confusing exchange of Pesterchum chats figure out that Braiden is a complete wad. So, he's been doing this training shit and basically saying Dave isn't tough enough and all this like… oh fuck, what did Rose say? Stuff about toxic masculinity. She knows about it, she talks to Dave more. So we tell my mom since she's like, I dunno, like a responsible person and she knows Braiden really well; they're like siblings even though they're not siblings because fuck if my family isn't screwed the hell up," she punctuated the statement with a laugh. "And she spent yesterday chewing him out on the phone, and then talking to John's dad and like, figuring out legal stuff? Anyway I knew Braiden was gonna be here tonight and like up until now he and I always got along but I wanted to tell him I think he's the worst scum imaginable. Like, who spars with a 14-year-old kid?" Roxy looked up and spotted a friendly waiter, Alex. "Hey, can you get me a martini?"
"Sorry, Rox, I'm not supposed to serve you anymore. Braiden told us how old you two actually are and I technically should kick all three of you out." That rat bastard. Porrim worked her charm on Alex.
"Oh come on, one more for old time's sake?" she cooed. Roxy smirked as she saw the blush spreading on Alex's cheeks.
"Well, uh… sure. But this is the last time."
"Nice!" Roxy said. "What about you, Por, you getting anything?"
"No, I'm the DD for the evening."
"Tules?" she hoped Latula was cool with nicknames.
"Aw RAD, uh, can I get a vodka lemonade?" Alex nodded at them and left, just as Braiden came storming over. He slammed his hands on the table and leaned forward, and despite his clear malintention, Roxy wasn't really intimidated by him.
"Dick move, Rox. You come to my workplace and assault me?" Ugh. He was. The WORST.
"Throwing a drink in a bar isn't assault. Girls face worse on a daily basis and if you think child abuse and abandonment doesn't warrant more than that, then you are deluded!"
A very clear flash of panic crossed Braiden's face. "Keep your voice down, you little shit, or I'm gonna lose my job."
"You should!" Roxy yelled again. God, Braiden had everything that was coming to him. "You deserve to lose everything! You're losing your cousins, you lost your brother, you're gonna lose your other one, and you don't deserve the wealth you have." That was barely scratching the surface of Roxy's anger, and she didn't give one single shit about causing a scene.
"If we weren't in public, I'd—"
"Oh my GOD, did you just grab my boob?" Porrim shouted, very suddenly. "The DJ just groped me!"
"What? No I didn't! Alex, you saw," Braiden said, panic in his voice, and Roxy couldn't help but feel satisfied. Image blown, dickweed.
" I saw… I saw you giving these three a hard time…" Alex's voice trailed. After putting up a bit of a fight, Braiden had to be escorted from the premises, and Porrim, Latula, and Roxy actually felt pretty good about it.
"Well, there goes our connection. He certainly does deserve it, though," Porrim said.
"He deserves to be in jail," Roxy muttered, clearly still bitter.
"We all wanted him out of here," Alex said. "He's a fucking douchebag. So, uh, thanks, Porrim."
"My pleasure," Porrim answered. Roxy smiled a bit. The road to karmic retribution began with woman-induced justice.