"No, it's not simply being afraid. Getting your face held under a foot of water in a metal basin? Sure, haha, very funny. It's not like it leads to phobias later. After all, Joseph is strong, he must not be afraid of anything. Nothing bad has happened to him!" Jo snorts, tipping the bottle back and chugging the rest of the bitter liquid, burping.
"Christ on a stick, that was foul. . ." they groan, grabbing a bottle of brandy for himself. Their face and eyes were bright.
// Tiny tw//
" oh come on don't be a baby my phobia has trauma attached to it as well but yet you still laugh so I mean we've all had bad things happen to us, you were nearly drowned and I was sexually assaulted since I was six, and had to force myself to throw up even if it terrified me. "
"It's not that bad, huh. I'd like to see you thrashing as hard as you can at age 4, trying to escape your father's brutal punishments whenever you made the slightest mistake. One of my father's favorites was filling some sort of container - usually a metal basin - with steaming hot water and holding my head in it until I stopped fighting and passed ou." Jo growls.
" how about we stopped comparing past traumas before one of us gets hurt, " she turned to look outside and curled in on herself
Jo sighs, setting down the bottle for a moment, before reconsidering and finishing it off.
"Yeah. . . probably a good idea. . ." he murmurs.
Nikki hugged a throw pillow that was on the couch and didn't speak again
Jo prods Nikki gently.
"I'm sorry, dear. . ."
"For what exactly? " she turned to look at him and wiped her face
" tequila makes me emotional it's okay, "
Jo raises an eyebrow.
"Being a jackass about stuff again." they say, settling down next to Nikki.
"It's fine, jo seriously it was a stupid thing to argue about and we're drunk, it's okay"
"Being drunk isn't an excuse. . . to not be decent." Jo yawns, deciding that maybe more alcohol would make him less tired as he stands up - again - and grabs another bottle.
"Well I'm making it an excuse okay so just calm down alright? "
Jo shrugs, slowly popping open the bottle and just straight up chugging it, their eyes popping open in disgust.
They cough slightly after finishing it.
"God damn! That was. . . wow." they grin.
"Oh dear Jesus, I know you didn't just-" she watched as her chugged the contents of the bottle stunned before shake her head disapprovingly
Jo shrugs lopsidedly.
"Oh, I did. And you should come join me. After all, I can't drink all of this myself!"
"Ive drank two bottles…. I'm getting there cool it"
Jo shrugs again, grabbing another bottle.
"Suit yourself."
Nikki rolled her eyes and Stood up grabbing a bottle of brandy and heading out to the balcony
Jo snorts.
"What was that eye roll for? We planned on getting blackout drunk, didn't we?" they ask.
"Yeah we did but your being stupid. " she said shutting the door behind her and sitting down on the couch outside
Jo sighs and mutters something along the lines of "and your not being stupid enough."
They sit down on the couch, stretching out.
She rolled her eyes again and curled up on the couch she opened the pretty bottle and took tiny sipps of the liquid inside and she gazed up at the stars a bitter thought running through her head
Eventually, once Jo finishes off this bottle, they stand up and step outside, sitting down on the ground in front of the couch.
"What's wrong?"
Nikki looks down at him and back at the sky she avoids the question "I've never seen stars before I've heard about them but I've never once seen them I used to think they were fake hell I think I still do I've either be underground for years in a dark room filled with monsters or this this shit city filled with smog. "
Jo sighs.
"Nicole. . ." they say gently, the mask of arrogance and violent glee now down, leeting their true emotions show: sadness, grief. . . and a glint of true happiness.
"I can take you to a place where the light of humans has never touched the night sky, where we can live and be safe from all the nightmares hunting us. Where you can see a true night sky, unhindered by concrete and pollution." they murmur.
"But I can only do that if you tell me what's wrong, why you look so distant and angry all of a sudden."