Salvation in a Bottle (SL) [Ryoji]

The cool night air held a mighty chill to it, a cold biting enough to send shivers down the spine with the slightest breeze. Not that it mattered at all. Ritsuko couldn't feel the cold with spicy Fireball running through her veins and even if she could she wouldn't have cared. Ritz had spent the evening being... very confused in certain ways... Confused and guilty. After fleeing the Cipher Cafe she would return to Salamander's against her better judgement and Aoide's wishes. In her volatile emotional state she sought comfort and isolation. She found that in a seedy bar with a glass in front of her. Salamander's was the worst choice, too, but it was the most familiar. She argued with Kano over his shortchanging the other night but ultimately stayed... and in her spite, spent over a hundred dollars on an open tab before walking out unnoticed. It would bite her in the ass later, but that was a problem for Future Ritz. Present Ritz only wanted to stop feeling things.

Aoide was similarly disappointed. She had desired Ritz to share her conflicted, tortured emotions to anyone in Suzy Q that would listen, but her reluctance was simply too strong and she would turn to her only form of medication to dull her influence. As a result Ritz would feel an ever increasing flow of guilt and shame which only served to cause her to drink even harder to dull the ache. At the moment she found herself trudging down a forlorn street at one in the morning on the way to her motel. The weight of her guitar on her back was negligible as she stumbled and swayed down the empty sidewalk, bobbing and weaving to the side here and there, leaning forward with limp arms like a zombie close to falling over. An unlit cigarette rested between two of her fingers, the flame having gone dull after several minutes of inattentiveness as she walked, eyes transfixed on the void in front of her. She'd hold one eye closed to make sense of her surroundings, anything else was close to impossible. The street lights were hazy and blurred when she moved, the street not perfectly clear. Blacking out was a bitch.

Ritsuko would take a moment to prop herself on a nearby building to gain her bearings, but closing her eyes and trying to focus just made her dizzy. She wasn't completely sure where she was, just that she recognized some of the buildings along the way. When she came upon the the brightly lit yellow sign she'd know she was there, would just need to walk familiar territory til then. She rubbed a tired hand along her face, the numbing sensation sliding along her temples being somewhat therapeutic. She felt tired... incredibly exhausted. It was extremely tempting to set her back against the wall and close her eyes for a few hours, but she knew better from experience. She'd need to stay awake until she at least got indoors. Ritz lazily fumbled through her pockets to light a cigarette, unaware that she had lit the wrong end as she took a mouthy drag.

"Demons, huh? It is hard to believe they exist..."

He thought to himself.

"I just need to ignore these events... like they don't exist..."

Shouri simply ignored demons existed, like he wouldn't want to believe something that absurd, but it was still here. After the events unfolded at this city, demons roamed around the entire world, with only a small number of places being safe for him. He also thought it was another reason his parents sent him to Seven Stars, besides his own safety and psychological problems. But he ignored these demons, he didn't need them anyways.

"...I am... szzzszzzzzzzzz...thou..."

Suddenly, he felt something coming inside his body. "Tch, not that shit again..." It is something he felt since he came to that city. It was a weird feeling like someone was trying to strangle his neck for no reason at all, and this strange voice resonating inside his head. It was like he wasn't even supposed to be inside the city, but somehow he is here, and he awoke to something he shouldn't have awakened just from entering the city itself. He already heard rumors about "Persona users" on some internet forums, but he isn't sure if this strange feeling is something related to this rumor, but he didn't ask either. For some reason, the government doesn't want this kind of people roaming around the city freely. He also heard about the Psyche Terrorists, but he just decided to ignore these rumors and live normally. However, with something trying to strangle him, it would be impossible but to believe in these rumors deep inside. "It stopped..." And thus, the albino moved his hands to his throat, with the fingers slowly touching the on the area.

"Stranglement wounds, again..."

As he sighed, he noticed something besides him. It was the same girl he became angry at for no reason, he was sure it was the same woman as before; she was drunk, and was putting a cigarette in her mouth... wait, she wasn't supposed to smoke using the right end of the cigarette? The albino didn't know, but he was sure it was because the girl was drunk. "Not that shit again..." He moved towards the girl with the help of his crutch, interested in trying to help her. He had enough of helping someone like her, but his deepest desire was to do so anyways.

"This is the wrong end of the cigarette."

He said as he got next enough to the girl leaning against the wall.

Eyes widening in surprise, both from the foul smoke from her burning filter and her new, somehow familiar guest, Ritsuko doubled over hacking and wheezing. Digging her fingers into her lip she would pull out several strands of tobacco and begin to spit at the ground. Disgusting, but at least she was a little more alert.
"Psssh. Fack you..." she trailed off in nearly a whisper, throwing out her hands to allow her useless cigarette to fly from her fingertips and to toward the sidewalk. It was unclear whether or not she was talking to the new arrival or the coffin nail she burnt at the wrong end, or whether she intended to drop it in the first place, but her eyes followed the cigarette as the wind picked it up to roll across the concrete.

Her attention turned toward the albino... guy? ...giiiiiiiiiiiiir- nah, guy. Her attention turned towards the albino teenager with a loll of her head, blank eyes half-open and staring emptily toward him, her body dipping and waving as if suspended by twine and swaying in an invisible wind. Noxious fumes of ash and fine gin undulated off her in waves, leaving no question to how she'd spent her night. She kept her eyes on him for a few moments, her only action a puff of air escaping from her nostrils and a nod of her head and heave of her shoulders in support of that. Like she thought of a witty remark she chose to keep to herself.
"You tryna ssneak up'n me?" she accused, pushing herself from the wall and running her hand along her numb face to reign her rebellious hair in. It didn't work very well. She'd try to stand a little straighter, but at 5-foot-5 with the composure of a ragdoll being piloted by intelligent rats, all it managed to do was force her to regain her balance and make the street spin like a top around her. Not to mention, again, it didn't work very well.

"I betcha think yer ssssooooo ssssmaaaaaart," Ritsuko began to slur, heavily leaning toward one side. She attempted to take a step forward and lost her footing, causing her to have to grip the corner of the building she'd been leaning on for support. Honestly, she could probably use that crutch better than he could. Strangely, she her tone of voice didn't even change in pitch as she nearly ate concrete. As if she's done it before. Many, many times before.
"Y'think yer sssmart'n'uff to... do what'ver th'fack you wan'! Nuh-uh. Nope. Fuck you. Nnnnot gon' work tha' way, you'kn kiss my asss!" The highly intoxicated woman took her step like she wanted to in the first place and placed a hand thoughtfully over her chest. She opened her mouth as if to speak, but it took a moment for the words to come out.
"W'll IIIIIIII got news fr'you... Ahm not tha'sstupid, yer'ssstupid, tha'ss why I got out'n yer f'kin deeaad...!" Ritsuko would guide a pointed finger to flick off the boy's shoulder, looking smug in a challenging sort of way. As if she was daring him to be provoked by the nonsense argument she was holding with someone that clearly wasn't him. She held this look for just a short while before glancing around as if lost, shaking her head around at the ground before turning her back to the silver-haired teen.
"The fuck my ssigarette!" she called down the street to no one, volume a little higher than recommended for as late as it was.