i'll bring this whole damn city

i was death, she was life. (insp)

Allydia AU : Knight and Queen

@audreyhawthorne

“You say that but I don’t see you struggling for the keys,” Audrey replies with a slight chuckle as she finally manages to violently jam the correct key into the lock and turn. Her apartment is a mess of discarded photos, half empty coffee cups and abandoned projects. Part of her knows that it’s getting a little out of hand as she glances around but the motivation to clean up her act simply isn’t there. Throwing her shit on the bench, she groans loudly when her handbag empties it’s contents onto the floor with her medication included. “Piece of shit,” the photographer grumbles as she crouches down to collect them, having left the door open in case Sawyer intended on continuing their conversation. “I’m fine. Just a little bored is all. Nothing but time to kill,” she chuckled weakly before shoving some things into her bag.

Well, she isn’t wrong, but Sawyer doesn’t think she needs to point out that she isn’t even at her door yet. It’s hardly an important detail, and realistically, she won’t be struggling with her key when she does reach it. “I try to limit that to when other people can’t see me,” the mutant comments with a little snort of laughter. “I mess up with my words enough; don’t need to give anybody any more ammunition to poke fun, y’know?”

She lingers just outside Audrey’s apartment, still smiling almost fondly as she drums her fingers on her cup. “Well, I’ve just got off work if you want to come over to mine. I mean, my night is pretty much just going to be Netflix and take out, but the offer is still there.”

It wasn’t until shortly after her graduation that Audrey finally went off the rails. With Evan showing his violent side on a more regular basis, she’d turned to little white caplets to numb her bruises. When her brothers had eventually thrown him out onto the street after he’d had the nerve to backhand her before them, she’d turned to them again to drown out the silence. Now, she relied upon them heavily to get her through the simplest of days. Without cause or crusade to busy her desperate mind, she lived a quiet existence where her only concern was her next dose.  “Dropped my key,” the strawberry blonde replies with a slight slur to her words. Already her vision is blurring at its edges, mind numbing slowly. “Stupide morceau de merde,” she curses once more before finally managing to get a hold of the key. It’s only then that she meets Sawyer’s gaze, barely able to recall the last conversation they’d shared.

“Happens to the best of us,” she says easily, a smile smoothing over her features. It’s not like she hasn’t gone worse more than once - the only advantage was that she could easily rig a simple enough lock out of electronics and bypass the troubles entirely. She imagines that Audrey doesn’t have the same advantage. The brunette doesn’t want to say anything, doesn’t want to point out that the redhead is slurring her words if only slightly. It’s not her place.

Sawyer manages a little shrug, taking a few steps closer and letting out a quiet laugh. “You need a little help or anything? You just look kinda - Green around the gills is all,” the mutant offers softly, fingers drumming against her coffee cup. 

It’s been days since Audrey was sober. Her bloody shot eyes are surrounded by dark circles as she shuffles through life. Her work has definitely dropped off of late, the red head instead choosing to enjoy the last of her inheritance. The calls from her mother were slowly increasing in frequency. Each one ended in a one sided argument until eventually the photographer had simply hung up. For the moment the only thing carrying her through the day were the little white helpers buried in the bottom of her handbag. Popping two, she slowly makes her way back to her apartment. Hazel hues barely focus as she manages to find the right floor only to struggle with the keys for a solid fifteen minutes. It’s with a quiet grunt of frustration that Audrey goes to jam the right one into the door, only to drop it at the last moment. “Le connard,” she mumbles quietly in her native tongue before dropping to the ground slowly.

Sawyer feels like the more often she sees Audrey, the more she ought to worry. It feels like the woman grows paler each time she sees her, her eyes more bloodshot; maybe she’s simply imagining it, maybe it’s nothing. Admittedly, she doesn’t know the redhead well enough to know otherwise, know that she could simply be dreaming up excuses to speak with her with more frequency. It seems more pathetic when she thinks about it in such simple terms, seems like she’s grasping at straws when it comes to human interaction.

“-Hey, Audrey,” the brunette chirps from behind her cup of coffee, almost startled by the sight of the other woman as she rounds the corner. “Door trouble or-?” Eyes drop to the key on the floor and she shakes her head. “I’m gonna have to make you some sorta hide-a-key thing.”

inspiration

“D’aww, stop it, stop it, you’re gonna make me blush. Okay, keep telling me how awesome I am.”

“And let it go to your head?”

William can’t help but smile as he glances around Sawyer’s apartment. Aside from the soft snores slipping from JT’s room, the room is silent. Well that and the tweeting of Huginn and Muninn from somewhere on the fire escape. It’s been six months since he accidentally stumbled in here in search of his ex-girlfriend’s apartment. Fortunately the woman hadn’t tasered him on the spot. Instead she’d offered a friendly ear, some strong coffee and the world’s lumpiest couch to him.  Glancing up as the door opens, he gives the brunette a polite smile. “Kinda let myself in. I mean, I know you don’t care but I’m also drinking your booze so there’s that,” the mutant chuckles quietly as he watches her throw down her bag and keys. This feels so natural now, so normal that he can barely remember a time before the brunette entered his life. “How was your day babe?”

“You’ve usually let yourself in by the time I get home,” she points out almost immediately, hardly even fazed by his presence. Honestly, Sawyer just thinks it’s nice to come home to someone who isn’t JT - something like a sign of change, she thinks. Ever since she’d landed that job at the lab, she feels like her life is finally moving in a better direction. Sure, there are still a lot of things that she needs to work out for herself, but this is a step in the right direction.

She shrugs as she toes off her shoes, moving to drop down on the couch beside him. “Long. We didn’t get much done. Just fixed up some of the stuff already in the lab.” Shoulders roll in another shrug and she half-leans against him, sighing in relief. “Yours?”