so why'd you have to rain on my parade?

       

I'm shaking my head. I'm locking the gates.

The witch that stood before her made Samantha's head spin with the sheer amount of emotions that twisted around her, each mixed heavily with that intoxication that the girl had found herself in. It took so much energy for the fae woman to fight her way through those muddled emotions and focus on the present. That Vhalla, her previous friend, was here in front of her. She was here and alive and... well, drunk. But it was Samantha's own joy that had her leaning in to wrap her arms around the witch. Though she noticed the way Vhalla instantly stiffened, she hardly found herself concerned with it. She'd hugged Vhalla before and had the same response. Vhalla was an assassin, was she not? Samantha was sure that the woman rarely got hugged just for the sake of joy. But for Samantha, it was out of joy. She was happy to see Vhalla. She was happy to be back in this town and to see the people that she had cared about alive and well.

Still, Samantha was not naive enough to think that she would be able to truly converse with the white-haired girl at her side until she was sober, or at least slightly so. The brief flashes of Vhalla's thoughts she got simply from touching the woman's wrist were enough to convince her of that. Everything happened so quickly in the other woman's mind. Flashes of Dorian. Sam. Sebastian. Another face she didn't recognize. Flashes of anger and sadness accompanying it. It made Samantha's head spin trying to keep up, and it almost left her wrenching her hand away if it wasn't for the fact that somehow, she had to get Vhalla to her apartment. "I know honey," was all Samantha offered as the witch protested wanting to sober up. "But you..."

Samantha frowned as Vhalla wrenched her hand free, the fae pausing as she watched Vhalla attempt to stop. Her protests seemed almost childish, and if it had been someone else, she would have likely laughed. But it was Vhalla's insistence that she didn't want to remember that had Samantha tilting her head to the side. "Don't want to remember what?" She asked. Remember her? Their friendship? Or something else? Luckily, Samantha is spared dwelling on that by the insistence from the light haired witch that she would come as long as Samantha had alcohol at her own house. She did, of course, though it would take a lot to actually let Vhalla have any more alcohol in her system. It was lucky the witch didn't have alcohol poisoning at this point.

"Alright," Samantha replied, though the response clearly hardly mattered to the other woman, as she had started to move herself down the sidewalk at a painfully slow pace. Still, judging by how quickly she'd wrenched herself away from Samantha, she didn't attempt to help her. Instead, she just stayed at her side, a hand out gently to catch the woman if she would so topple over. The normally short walk back to her apartment seemed to take forever, and by the time they got to the stairs Samantha found herself with a slight headache from the woman's intensely intoxicated emotions. "Stairs?" Samantha asked, tilting her head to the side. "Unfortunately for both of us, Aiden picked an apartment on an upper floor. I think he wanted me to have a nicer view. Samantha stepped behind the woman as she started up the stairs, gently putting a hand on the small of her back to keep her from teetering backwards. "We're almost there," She assured her, and Samantha was out of breath by the time they reached the top. How agonizing it was to go up stairs so slowly.

"Stop banging on the door," Samantha scolded, pushing Vhalla's hand away as she dug out the key. How lucky she was that Aiden hadn't changed the locks. She'd thought, naively, that the apartment would be hers in Aiden's death. She'd thought that she could leave and it would be the same when she returned. But so much wasn't the same upon her return. At least the apartment could still be. Aiden generous enough to allow her to stay. Samantha unlocked the door before she guided Vhalla into the apartment, gently nudging her to sit on the plush couch. "I'll get you something to drink," She assured her as she disappeared into the kitchen. She moved quickly then, taking the bottles of alcohol that so normally sat upon her refrigerator and stashing them in cabinets.

Sam returned within a few minutes, a steaming mug of coffee in each of her hands. She sat next to Vhal, pressing the mug into her hands. "Drink," She commanded as she settled back against the couch. "You'll feel better."
       

this is why we can't have nice things

       

Samantha Cassidy