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Furud slouches against the railing. "So if the US sucks, why are you here?" His voice isn't challenging, now, just worn.
Altair takes a little bottle of something alcoholic from his small bag. "Fuck." He looks at the red stain on the wall. "Now I'm going to have to go through the entire day without the wine, y'know. Bastard." He stops to consider Furud's question after taking a sip.
Altair "You think I WANT to be here?"
Furud "Th'hell do I know about what you want?"
Altair stares at Furud, blank, for a moment. "Nothing. You never did."
Furud starts to snap back, then sobers and looks out over the football field. "Yeah, I guess you're right."
Altair "What's with the donniciola? She's your girl?"
Furud smiles slightly, he still remembers a few words of Italian - the most useful ones of course. "Yeah," his voice warms a little, then gains a harder edge. "Yeah, she is."
Altair "Ah" He forms a dangerous, daring grin for a moment, but it's gone too soon - he lacks the energy even for that. "I see."
Furud unconsciously rubs his hand back and forth through his hair, ruffling it into spikes. "So... sorry you had to come back here. What happened?"
Altair chuckles a bit. "I screwed up. I screwed up bad. And then 'uncle' came up with the solution, of course. To come spend some time in the summer home, 'intern' to take over the bussiness here... and, of course, I get to be in the lil' playground here." He leans back, his head hitting the metal a little too hard. "What the fuck's happenned to Johnstone anyway?"
Furud "Uh, honestly? I needed a little distraction, and the little fire in the bathroom went too far."
Altair looks at Furud as if he'd just grown a third eye. And it sprouted out into a little one-eyed imp. That flew away. And proceeded to ate the sun. "... wait, wait. YOU got Johnstone in the hospital?"
Furud "Well...basically. I had some help."
Altair begins to chuckle, offering Furud the drink. "Help yourself. You just got a free ticket out of execution."
Furud takes it with a half-smile. "Thanks." He lifts the little bottle towards Altair in salute, then takes a healthy swig. "Damn I forgot - you go for the good stuff. I've missed this." He closes his eyes, tipping his head back against the railing.
Altair "Being from an affluent family is aaaaallllll about knowing how to drink yourself silly with CLASS." He inhaled some from his cigarette, his gaze falling over the school, getting acquainted with it, "I remember us going to steal my father's cabinet. You did a good job of picking locks, back then." He grins.
Altair "You know, before you became a jerk."
Furud "I'm even better now - at both." Another swig, and he hands the bottle back.
Altair "Just remember that I'll kill if you're too much of the latter. I mean, I'm already in Johnstone's building after what happenned. It's not that things can get any fuckin' worse for me." He picks the lil' bottle. "You looked like hell when you came in. What's up?"
Furud snorts at his threat, good naturedly, then tilts his head back again. "Maia... of all the people to try it... I didn't think it would be her. We were there, and..." He shakes his head. "I don't want to talk about it."
Altair "... oh. More of that. Seems like she was a good friend... those are hard to find, nowdays."
Altair shooting an accusing, betrayed glance to Furud
Furud sighs, and looks away. "Yeah."
Altair "STOP THAT." He gets up, snapping. "Stop acting like that. You're not going to bring her back by MOPING AROUND. And you sure as fuck aren't going to feel better if you keep doing that. Just... stop. Cazzo, you have any idea how pathetic you look?"
Furud "So what, I'm supposed to sing and dance and act like the world makes sense?"
Altair "You're supposed to DO SOMETHING. Find whoever led her to that and kick the crap out of them! Make sure she wakes up and then make sure she never does something like that again! Make sure that..." He stops. "Make sure that you keep yourself out of a straightjacket. It's not... fun."
Furud "You were in a straightjacket?"
Altair blinks. "Oh... you didn't know?"
Furud "I thought it was just a rumor. You always seemed so... well yeah, crazy but not in a straitjacket kind of way."
Altair "I wondered if you'd come to visit, sometimes. Almost nobody came. Mostly just mom, sis... and Johnstone, of all people." He begins to laugh, again, that laugh. "Maybe if you had, you'd know what I mean. I spent so long moping after... after what I did, I just snapped. Like a twig."
Altair is shaking, the cigarette falling down and rolling off the roof
Furud "What you... oh. Shit, yeah... sorry. They didn't tell me. I thought you just stopped writing... But Johnstone visited?" His voice turns guarded, "What did HE want?"
Altair "They had to fill me with sedatives, you know. I never slept. Never, never." He shakes his head, sliding down the rail again, close to Furud, this time. "They thought I was wrong, that nobody was after me, that it was just the guilt. Maybe it was. Johnstone kept telling me to let go of the guilt, that he didn't blame me, kept asking me the weirdest fucking questions."
Altair "Not like I was in any shape to answer. I swear I didn't see anything but drugged hallucinations for some 8 months."
Furud looks shaken, "Did he mention stars?"
Altair "Yeah. He kept going on about my name. Explaining eeeeverything about the Altair star. Like it was important at all. Asked of the other star-named people. Asked me about things... about the people I kept seeing, after me, too. I was THERE because of my paranoia, and he was stoking the fuckin' flame. Saying he didn't blame me, that I was too IMPORTANT." He shakes his head. "Think he was just trying to drive me even crazier."
Furud "What were you paranoid about? Conspiracies? Shadowy organizations? People watching you all the time?"
Altair nods. "Thought it was just guilt. Wanting to take me away for Johnstone's kid. And for... other... stuff."
Furud snags the bottle from Altair's hand and takes a long drink. "You and me, my once-friend, are the same kind of crazy."
Altair "I don't believe that anymore, you know. Officially. I'm clean. I'm clear." He takes the bottle from Furud and picks a couple of medical capsules from his pocket, tossing them on his mouth, popping, drinking down.
Furud "Are you supposed to take those with alcohol?" he inquires dubiously. "Anyway, it's probably better without the paranoia huh?"
Altair "Your friend," He says 'friend' in a way that HAS to mean Maia, "Was she paranoid too?"
Furud "y....yeeeahhhh... kinda."
Altair "And nah. Not supposed to take those with alcohol. Not supposed to take those at all, really. Those are not the happy pills. I take the happy pills before bed, y'see. Those are the naughty pills." He got up, slowly. "When she wakes up, tell her that she's right. They're out there."
Furud "Yeah," he nods slowly. "We know."
Altair looks at the school. Stops. Looks around. At Furud... as if he wanted to ask him something, then away. "Do... do you... do you s..." He stopped, and shook his head, silent.
Furud "Sleep?" He shakes his head too, then answers quietly. "Never."
Altair stares at Furud, for a long time, his lips blossoming in a smile.
Furud shrugs and grins. "I always wondered, with your name."
Altair But the smile is gone, a moment later, "You cheated on my sister with that little donnaccia. You told father on me and Wendy. You told everyone about what I - about what we'd done, what we'd stolen. You broke my trust, man. You ruined me and Wendy, you ruined the treehouse."
Altair "We aren't even."
Furud 's face darkens again and he turns away. "I was young and stupid. If I could do it over, I wouldn't have done it. But it's too late for that, now, isn't it?"
Altair sighs. "That's not fair like that. You're supposed to rage against it. To give me a reason to hit you."
Furud "Try me again next week. I've had enough blood for this one."
Furud touches his temple again, the blood scabbing over. As he brushes his hair aside, Altair can see that it's not the only mark on his face, though.
Altair looks at that and grimaces. "What the fuck's going on here?"
Furud grins harshly. "Paranoia."
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