8/31 Instance: For What Ails Her

[fourpawsonthefloor]

Timeline current

Remy: He bounced Johnny on his foot, listening to the happy mad giggling from him, a wide smile and his own laughter joining that of his son's. It was nice to have him back. Tante had been baking up a storm too, filling the house both with the scents of home and the feeling of it.

Cessily: Cessily could smell the delicious scents of pastry even as she stepped up to the entrance to Remy's house, causing a smile to appear on her face. It reminded her so much of a quaint, cozy and perfectly normal family home. If it weren't for something missing from this otherwise perfect imagine. She sighed, her smile fading only slightly, and pressed the button of the doorbell.

Remy: Johnny stopped squealing and wiggled to get down, running for the door. He couldn't quite turn the knob by himself yet, but he could see the day where they'd quickly have to put a higher lock on the door to keep him in. Scooping his son up, he opened the door, smiling at the newcomer. "Cess! How y' doin' girl? Come on in." He waved welcomingly to her.

Cessily: "Hey, Remy!" Cessily grinned at him and stepped into the house. "And hey, look who's back!" Her grin grew a little bigger. "Hey, Johnny! We all missed you. I hope you had a great time without your daddy, hm?" She ruffled his hair, before looked back up at Remy. "And I'm doing okay. Well, considering the circumstances..."

Remy: He set Johnny down so that he could go run and show Cessily his toys and gave her a slight look of concern. "Yeah? An' what are those, petite?" That reminded his son of the word and he started chanting 'teet', bringing up a few toys to dump beside her.

Cessily: Cessily was busy giggling with Johnny for a couple of seconds, picking up some of his toys to play with him. "Oh well, you know me. Always worrying about everyone around me." She gave a small,wry smile as she looked back up. "Ju, one of my roomies, just came back from home. Which actually is a great thing, since she's a good friend."

Cessily: "But she had been caring for her mother," Cessily continued, standing up, and her smile faded. "She died. And now... well, I guess you can relate to how Ju's feeling right now."

Remy: "Ah. Merde. Oui." He pulled a face when Johnny picked up on that word and tante gave him an agast look, stooping to plunk a plate of warm pastries infront of them before scooping Johnny up to enjoy his own in his highchair. "Whoops."

Remy: "She doin' ok?" He gave Cessily a warm smile and reached over to squeeze her hand. "An' y're a good comforter. Y' look after everyone an' y're so kind."

Cessily: "I don't know," she replied, giving his hand a light squeeze back. "As okay as anyone can be in such a situation. But I'm doing my best to cheer her up." She turned to look at Johnny sitting in his highchair. It was good that he was still so young. The loss of his mother would have hit him that much harder had he been a few years older.

Cessily: "Well, that's not the only thing, though." Cessily wiped a strand of hair out of her face. She had to stop thinking about dead loved ones, lest she wanted to risk starting to cry right there. "Can we sit down and talk somewhere?"

Remy: He gave her another close look and frowned. "Yeah. Uh..." He thought of his bedroom, but thought better of that. He didn't want tante thinking anything of it. "My office or out aroun' back on d' patio?"

Cessily: "Patio sounds lovely," Cessily replied with a small smile on her lips, gesturing for him to lead the way. "It's slowly starting to get a little nicer outside. I can't wait for spring."

Remy: "Oui. Well not freezin' my ass off is a pretty high priority in life, gotta admit." He snagged the plate and put his coat on, opening the door for her and then leading the way around back where a couple of chairs overlooked the lake. Sweet scented steam rose from the pastries and he sniffed in bliss before settling himself down, head cocked at her. "So, what's eatin' y' up?"

Cessily: "Rahne," Cessily stated outright as she sat down on the chair. "I guess that you already know what I'm trying to get at." She glanced down at the plate of cookies and took an audible breath. "I mean, she's back for a while now, and I'm absolutely happy about that. But, well, she's..." She bit her lip, not finding the right word to use.

Remy: "Ahh. Oui, I know what y' mean. She's been snarly an'...well she's a mess, plain t' see for anyone. An' dere's not much y' can do t' reach her either, neh? She's pushin' people away as hard as she can, far as I can tell." He sighed. "An' den...dere's d' drugs."

Cessily: Cessily's eyes flicked open at the mention of drugs. "So, drugs? Really?" She glanced down at the floor, then shook her head. "Yeah, I guess that it's obvious, no? I thought she was just angry about what had happened between her and Vic, and that she was coping in her own way." She sighed. "Still, I didn't want to think of that possibility. At least, not yet."

Remy: "Yeah, well dat maybe made it worse...but she was on dem before Vic left." He let out a sigh and picked up a pastry and passed it to her. "Dey taste better warm, petite. Best t' have it now." Taking his own he bit into hit, powdered sugar bursting sweet across his tongue before the warmer yeastier flavour. "Vic was stupid. Know he thought different, dat dey could jus' have a bit of fun...but he did get her hooked anyways. An' now he's not here t' fix it. So...merde."

Cessily: Cessily took the pastry from him, showing a tiny smile, and tried it. "Mmm, they're delicious. Remind me to tell Tante how great a cook she is." She nibbled on it silently, thinking about what Remy had said. "Yeah, that makes sense. Something like that should never been done lightly. Or not at all. I mean, I'm pretty sure we're not talking about some harmless weed here."

Cessily: Running a hand through her hair, she tilted her head back and rested it against the back of the chair. "Perhaps I should have given Vic a kick in the butt instead of jumping into bed with him."

Remy: He gave her a side look at that. "Y' slept with him? Wow. Well, dat kinda complicates things a bit, oui. But still...ah, it's jus' fuckin' complicated, ain't it?"

Remy: "An' no. It's crack. Mind y' speakin' of weed I did smoke a joint wit' Raya. Remind me not t' do dat again." He shook his head and gave her a wry look. "So...she don' wanna stop. She don' see d' problem. I'm not sure what t' do wit' her. She's jus' so angry, y' know?"

Cessily: Cessily had to chuckle at the thought of Raya trying out weed. She was certain that this must have been quite interesting. "Yeah, believe me, I know. It's almost as if she actually wants to make all her friends get angry at her." She turned her head, looking at Remy. "And well, you know me. I guess I've finally stolen your former reputation as the school's bicycle."

Cessily: "I know that I often underestimate how complicate such things can get." She sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose. She had to tell someone. She feared that all of this would eat her up otherwise. "At least I haven't been playing favourites and slept with Rahne, as well."

Remy: "I dunno if y're insultin' me or y'rself or both of us wit' dat, chere." He hesitated on the last word, but squished it out anyways. For a long while he'd only called Talia chere, even though it was a common enough usage at home - not reserved for only sweethearts. Hell, he knew he'd tossed it around a lot. And...it hurt a bit to use it again, but then again, it wasn't that big of a deal.

Remy: "But y' got it right, it can get com...wait - y' did what? Dieu." He chaffed his forehead. "Well, dat does get more complicated, oui. How did dat go?"

Cessily: "Why should it insult any of us," she wondered with a small smirk. "You know that's not something that I think badly about." She took a deep breath and shrugged. "Oh well, I would be lying if I said that the sex hadn't been amazing. It wasn't until afterwards that I realized just how messed up Rahne must be."

Cessily: She paused for a moment, sucking on her lower lip. "I mean, all that was missing would have been her kicking me out of the bed right after."

Remy: "Oh, ouch." He wrinkled his nose. "Dat's not so great. Woulda hoped dat it woulda made her feel more loved an' cared about. Not so much though, eh?"

Cessily: "Nope," Cessily replied, putting some accentuation into that one word. "To be honest, I felt used. Like some kind of sex toy." She fidgeted with the buttons on her pockets. "I know that I'm not exactly considered as someone who plays hard to get. Quite the opposite. But still, this is something that I would never do to any of my lovers. Ever. And Rahne is a good friend."

Cessily: She looked at Remy. She had promised that she wouldn't tell anyone about this, but that had been when Rahne and Vic had still been engaged. And not messed up like that. That agreement had been voided a while ago. "I didn't think of it as cheating. Sleeping with both of them, that is. The three of us had been together before they broke up."

Remy: "I see. Well, dere is a lot of shared things in dis place, lets say. But as y' said d' idea was dat no one hurt another. It wasn't supposed t' be about hurt or power, neh?" She looked so sad and he reached over to stroke her shoulder.

Remy: "Cessily, y're always a nice an' kind girl. I'm sorry dat it happened. Rahne...she's like a shade of who she used t' be. Back den she was like a bit of sun in a body y' know? Happy an' bubbly an' radiant. Now?" He shook his head and sighed. "She's jus' d' opposite."

Cessily: "Yeah, I know." Cessily glanced over to Remy, a sad little smile on her face. "All I wanted was to make them feel better again. It was a wonderful time when they were so happy together. Maybe I just wanted to bring a little bit of that good time back. But it's all different now. Rahne has changed so much."

Cessily: She reached up to squeeze the hand stroking her shoulder. "You all told me how she's been before all the bad things had started happening, and I thought that she was a lot like me. It's sad that this seems to be gone now." She looked at him. "I'm not angry at her for treating me like that. Really not. I know she has problems. But it worries me. We have to help her."

Remy: "Y' know, it's ok t' be a bit angry. Y're justified in it. An' dere's limits t' what y' can put up wit'. She may be y're friend, but it don' mean y' need t' be a doormat." He pulled her closer, into an awkward sort of half hug over the arm of the chair between them. "An' yeah...but help her how? I mean - Papa went an' threatened me an' kept me in d' house an' made me take therapy an' dat worked for dis stubborn cajun. But I dunno if her family can do dat for her. Or if we can." He shrugged. "Maybe we could handcuff her to d' bed? Don' think dat'd make her very happy, an' Xavier would probably have somethin' t' say about it."

Cessily: Cessily silently thought about that questions for a couple of seconds, before lowering her head. "I don't really know, either. I've never had to deal with such a problem before. But we can't just leave her like that, can we? What if she gets worse and continues to make herself feel more and more miserable? Perhaps Xavier could help. Or Dai."

Remy: "Maybe, yeah." He gave her a look that was only half joking. "An' maybe if we teamed up we could give her a bigger spankin' dan if we jus' went it alone." Looking thoughtful he watched the waves on the lake. "Hmm. Maybe I could track down who's supplyin' her an' give dem a suggestion t' not supply her anymore. Still, dat's only a bandaid situation. She's gotta want t' be a person again rather dan dis thing she's become."

Cessily: "Yeah, I think so, too. I'm afraid that If we tried to force her away from the drugs, she'd only get more angry at us and see us as her enemies. Then she would want our help even less." She looked at Remy and nodded. "But you're right about confronting her together. The more people, the better. She has to see that there are people caring about her, and that they won't leave her."

Remy: "Oui. But d' problem is how? Bein' nice ain't workin' so hot. Y' said as much y'reself, oui? I know she still cares about us, at least some part of her does, but she's so angry dat it jus' burns her through. Hard t' say who she's d' most angry wit' - Vic or herself. I mean, doin' dis is really about hurtin' herself I think."

Cessily: Cessily nodded in agreement. "That makes sense. Why else would she be pushing away everyone who she cared about?" She chuckled humorlessly. "A small part of me wants to simply walk over to her room and smack some sense into her before she can ruin her life completely. After all, I wouldn't have to worry about her gutting me."

Remy: He gave her a look. "Y' know...honestly, dat may be d' best way. Jus' barge on in, oui?"

Cessily: Cessily turned her head and returned the look. "Perhaps it is, yes. I mean, she really has to see and realize what she's doing here. Like, some kind of intervention. If we go too softly about this, she'll just ignore us and go on like this."

Remy: "Ok. Well, makes sense. So when? An' am I bringin' d' hose or are y'?" It was humourous, but not. Rahne was a mess both figuratively and literally.

Cessily: Cessily chuckled lightly, giving Remy a small smile. "Well, the sooner, the better, I'd say. I really don't want to wait until it's maybe too late. I guess that's our best chance." She looked down at the plate and nodded, reassuring herself, then picked up another piece of pastry. "Mmm, maybe taking along some of Tante's awesome food would help. You know, as a bribe."

Remy: "That'd be an idea, but I don' know that she's eatin' much. We'll maybe have t' haul her down here an' sick tante on her. Dat woman'll feed y' up good."

Cessily: "That would be an even better idea," Cessily agreed with a laugh. "Well, I'm convinced that she'd be properly cared for here at your place." She nodded again, then smiled softly. "Thanks for your help, yes?"

Remy: "Ain't really help. Jus' what I should do. Haven't always been able t' be around for my friends like I want, y' know? Life gets in d' way sometimes." Reaching up he wiped a bit of powdered sugar off of her chin. "Speakin' of which, how are y'?"

Cessily: Her smile became a little brighter and happier. "You mean aside from being a worrying mother hen for my friends? Well, actually, I'm feeling fine. Spending a lot of time with Japh. You know, before he graduates." She nodded awkwardly. "Which leaves us with you. How are you? I bet happy to have Johnny back in the house."

Remy: "Yeah. He's a handful, but life's pretty lonely without him, y' know? An' he's learnin' so much now. Other dan dat, catchin' up on d' last bits of things. Gettin' ready to graduate." He shrugged. "Y' jus' kinda put one foot in front of d' other an' somehow y' jus' keep goin'."

Cessily: "That's great," Cessily said, nodding again. "If you ask me, I think you're dealing really well with all of that. Johnny is growing up quickly, isn't he? And it's nice that you have Tante. Guess the house would feel even more empty without her." She tilted her head slightly. "Have you ever thought about moving back into the main building?"

Remy: "I couldn't do it without her. Work an' school an' Johnny an' den keepin' a house on top of it?" He shook his head. "I jus' couldn't." Her suggestion brought a nod from him. "I have. At d' time I jus' wanted Johnny t' have somethin' he was familiar wit' an' have a space where he wasn't gonna keep everyone up if he was squackin' at 6 am, y' know? But I dunno about movin' back. An' I dunno about stayin'. Everythin' is gonna remind me of her after all, so it's hard t' run from it."

Cessily: "Yeah, I can understand that. I wish I had a smart advice to give you here, but I guess all you can do is wait it out and find your own closure." She shrugged slightly. "I'm just worrying that you end up dwelling on everything out here all by yourself. Never forget that there's a whole mansion full of good friends not far away who'd love to keep you company."

Cessily: She smiled, reaching out to give his shoulder a gentle squeeze. "You know I'd always love to come over on a visit whenever you should feel lonely."

Remy: "I do know dat. Y'all are a real gift t' me, an' part of my family." He leaned a bit further to give her a quick kiss on her cheek. "Merci."

Cessily: "No need to thank us," Cessily replied, ruffling his hair a little. "You're a really great guy. Being your friend is its very own reward. Besides, it's a given that friends do such things for each other."

Remy: "Oui." He glanced back in the direction of the mansion. "An' dat includes kickin' ass if needed, neh?"

[Esynthia]

aww, cute y'all. and... KICK THAT ASS!!! lol

[wingyding]

LOL y'all!

Kickin' ass and takin' names, those two. I can't wait to see how it goes. Great work, though I feel really bad for Cess. Poor girl's just not having a good love life.

[steyn]

properly read this now, and enjoyed it very much