Tequila Sunrise [SL](Wolfie)

Fuck everything about the goddamn sun. Fuck the blinding, piercing light it brings, fuck the warmth it delivers, fuck it's pink hues in the morning, and fuck the very morning it creates in the first place. This was the primary thought within Ritsuko's mind as she shielded her sensitive eyes from the affront of brightness that stupid burning gas in the sky delivered as she exited the movie theatre. It was so dark, cool, and lonely inside. Safe from the light, protected from the warmth, segregated from the many people eager to get along with their tedious daily lives. Something she could do without. The very act of stepping outside was an assault on all of her senses. The toxic light threatened to fry her retinas to crispy flakes, her brain rattled around inside her skull with the shrieking chatter of the A.M. rush, ramming itself against the inner confines of her head. Ritsuko could seriously do with a long rest in a warm bed, but that wasn't about to happen. Naps tend to do that. Seriously, passing out in the theatre might've been great for the short term but it was a terrible way to get ready for work. Her mind was sluggish, her head still throbbed, her throat was dry, she still felt like a slob and it was almost as if her heart was pumping thick motor oil instead of blood. Hangovers were a bitch. She'd swear never again if she knew she could keep that sort of promise.

The pitiful alcoholic instead fished the sunglasses out of her shirt to spare her from the visual agony that was bright things and took a seat on the waiting benches outside. Flint on steel clicked once, twice, and thrice before setting her cigarette to flame. The taste of ash and tar graced her tongue, the unpleasant antithesis to the normally calming waves of nicotine she was used to getting. Smoking after a night of hard drinking always fucking sucked, this morning wasn't any different. But that didn't mean she wasn't prepared for it to be a rough time. Ritz slurped loudly at her large drink, ice water with a little bit of salt. A home remedy and her go-to to stay hydrated while restoring all the electrolytes she sweat into her socks. Jesus Christ a shower would be greeeeeeaaaaat... The ice water was cool and refreshing. Almost too cool and refreshing. The frigid water stung at her throat, chilling her esophagus with a biting numbing pain as she chugged her salty drink.

Quickly it overwhelmed her. The sudden onset torture of needles driving themselves upward into her brain from her spinal chord. Her mind was filled with frigid shock and agony, ripping through the skin on her forehead and exposing it to the frigid air as if her skull had been split open by an axe.

Brain freeze.

The musician grimaced as her hand shot up to her jaw to ease away the intense migraine that accompanied her beverage, rubbing away the ache with her rough, calloused fingers. It would be good for her in the end, she told herself. Even if it was less than pleasant at the moment some cool water would help minimize her headache when she woke up. The spike of cold waned after a minute or two and the standard pulsing throb returned to her, and she held her comforting beverage to her temple to take some of it away. So many uses this drink had. Helped to be prepared. Ritsuko silently went back to cycling between nursing her water, chilling her scalp, and cursing the mocking sunrise that taunted her with its obnoxious existence.

"I love just about everything about the sun! I love the brilliant, shining light it brings, I love the comforting, reassuring warmth it brings, I love the colours it makes in the sky's each and every morning! Aren't mornings just such magical times of day?" This was Callie's current topic of babbling that she was exchanging with her shadow, who was clearly not as keen on this whole sun thing as she was, but was willing to listen to her ramble on regardless. The young girl, once properly hiding away her ears and tail, would rush outside from the dark, cool and lonely inside of her home and out into the joyous light and warmth of the protecting sun, watching all the other people go about their daily business that all started once the sun had made its place in the sky. The very act of stepping outside was a pleasure on all of her senses. The brilliant light reflecting off of all the windows of both car and house made the whole street feel so much more alive and welcoming, Callie pausing only briefly to take a deep breath of the fresh morning air. Callie could seriously go for some exploring today, it was such a beautiful day that she just had to make the most of it! She had nothing better to do anyway and exploring was always a fun thing to do! "Come on Terra, how about a little bit of random wandering, huh? The sun is just to amazing to waste today!"

"If you say so, why not?" Callie's little shadow would reply from within her mind as they set off in whichever random direction took Callie's fancy today. She had purposefully tried to take a route that kept herself in the sun as much as possible, she had no real clue where she was heading and quite honestly that didn't really matter to her right now as long as she could bask in the ever loving sunlight. It's not like she could get lost anyway, she had always been amazing at the sense of direction, and even if not she could just follow her own trail back home! "I still don't get why you love the sun so much though, the moonlight is clearly better. The reflections of moonlight on a calmed lake is basically just candy for your eyes! Nehehe."

The young vixen would giggle at the comment. "Oh don't get me wrong! The moonlight is beautiful too! I just love the sunlight just as much and that's what's currently up there in the sky, so that's what I'm currently enjoying!" The two would continue their inner dialogue on whether or not moonlight was better than sunlight of if they were both equally as amazing as the other for some time, causing Callie to completely lose track of where she was heading even more. "Huh?" Suddenly breaking from conversation to take a quick look around, Callie would notice that she was somewhere she had never been before. "See! I told you we could still find new and interesting places if we tried hard enough!" The girl would exclaim excitedly as she took in all the sights, sounds and smells that graced her as she continued her walk. It was just such an amazing day, everyone else around her seemed to be enjoying themselves just as much as she was! Everyone from other kids, to adults, to... W-who was that?

"H-hello?" The girl would say timidly, after approaching a girl that was clearly not enjoying this beautiful day nearly as much as she should be. Callie couldn't help herself, she loved to see people happy and would often try all that she could to bring a smile to the face of anyone who was upset or in pain. This girl definitely seemed to be in pain in some way, she kinda had that expression on her face like when Kay complains about headaches that Callie and 8D would give her when they played silly games at home. "A-are you okay?"

Agony. Pain and discomfort in every fiber, torture in every neuron. Her head hurt, her eyes were dull and aching in their sockets, her ears were pounding louder and more violently with every passing car, her muscles sore with weary fatigue from being on her feet all night and walking around all day. Fuck, even her HAIR was in pain. But it wouldn't kill her. Never did. The misery never got any more convenient to deal with, but she got used to it overtime. Night in and night out, swimming in liquor and paying for it in the morning. Whatever. It'd never last. She'd be back on her feet and despising everything at the dawn of a new day and come back for more, that's just how things worked out. It wasn't as if she was doing anything else with her life at the moment besides working and getting sloshed anyway, so this was pretty par the course. Ritsuko's eyes felt heavy and worn, she struggled to keep them open even after her small cat nap during the movie. Well... she passed out during the opening scene but sleep was sleep. When it was sleep, in any case. Somehow it left her feeling even more exhausted. Ritsuko really wished she was in bed right about now but she knew she'd just toss and turn until her alarm went off and then she'd nod off in the steamer room and Chitose would yell at her and work would suck again. Better to just keep her eyes open for a little while and tough it out until she was about to fall down.

Sipping from the salty concoction was a real curse alright. The taste was terrible and floated on her tongue, yearning to take another drink to wash it all down but all there was to quench her thirst was more salt water. And the more she drank the less there was to ease away her migraine. It was something to which she was accustomed, far from the first time she'd had to do it, but it was a pain in the ass. Every time. Without fail. Not like she hadn't asked for it, but a better way to get completely wrecked would be convenient. At least it was better on her rare days off. She didn't even need to get out of bed those days if she didn't want to. The alcoholic released a grumbling sigh with everything in her lungs as she took another drag from her coffin nail. Her lids were unbearably weighty now, it was nearly time. Her head began to nod and she shook it gently to stay some sort of conscious when a grating voice entered her throbbing eardrums.


Her eyes floated up, causing Ritz to wince at what sight had so ignorantly wandered inside her personal space. A kid. Another one. All cheery and happy and bright looking. Holy shit her hair blond hair was so loud, it pained her to look at it. The miserable musician grimaced as she recoiled slightly. Fuckin' teenagers. It may well have been the last thing she'd wanted to see at that point in time. Aside from the cops, that is. "Public Intoxication" my ass.
"Jesus fuckin' Christ, I'm fine! *Yawn* Why do you punks keep askin' me that anyway? I'm going to be okay, leave me the hell alone already," she'd attempt to threaten, but it came out more as tired complaining. Ritsuko couldn't comprehend it. This was the city. Y'know, where people could be reeling from a hangover in the morning and strangers wouldn't care because no one cared about anything that happened around them. WHY was Endymion the only city that didn't understand how cities worked? It was so incredibly simple! So you have your random strangers on the street, right? They don't interact with other random strangers on the street because no one wants to interact with random strangers on the street. Easy! So why in the fuck did all the kids flock to her aid?! Pffft, whatever, her "don't even fuckin' look at me" aura must be broken again.

"Tcha!" she scoffed, turning away from the little one and spitting onto the sidewalk. Stupid gross salty slush drink. Ritz held her chilly beverage to the side of her head she'd faced from the kid as if to filter her out. Not like she could help anyway. Hangovers could only be cured with time or more alcohol, whichever's more realistic at the time. What really would ease her suffering at the moment was being left alone for he remainder of the morning, but that wasn't going to happen, was it? Should have never gone to the movies, should have walked out early if she was so sleepy, and shouldn't have stopped to light a cigarette. Dumb kids. What a pain.

The young girl would be taken aback a little from the hostile nature of the reply she received. She didn't know what she was expecting as an answer from the woman... But that wasn't one of the options she thought she'd get in reply. "I-I'm sorry..." Callie would reply, continuing the conversation instead of just up and high tailing it out of there right now like her shadow was suggesting in her mind. "I didn't mean to annoy you, I just wanted to know if you were okay... Maybe I could help in some way?" She'd ask, even more timidly than before after being shouted at for her attempt at being a nice person. It didn't make sense to her why some people acted like that, she hoped it was just to do with the headache she was feeling, she only wanted to help after all.

"M-maybe I could go get you a new drink? It looks like your one is almost empty..." She'd suggest, looking at the drink the woman was clutching so close to her head in an attempt to hide her face. Pretty sure Kay had told her before at the bar that a good way to at least make you feel slightly better after drinking was to drink a lot of water, and from what she could tell by how this woman was acting and how she had seen so many act before in the bar. She could only presume the woman had been drinking. The girl would take a quick look around the area to see if she could spot anywhere to buy a drink, the woman was probably going to say no... But she wanted to try and help anyway. Although before she'd rush off to buy one, she'd take a moment to ask. "By the way... What's a punk?"

The alcoholic rubbed a palm at her tired eyes, pushing up her sunglasses to do so. Stupid kids. The self-entitled assholes were fine because they reinforced the stereotype, but the nice ones threw her for a loop. It was much, much more difficult to justify being mad at them and keep them at a distance when they were trying to help, even if they were to dumb to realize that there wasn't anything they could do. Youth today was so proactive, at least most of them. They seemed eager to get involved into things, to make an impact in the world around them. Fuckin' idiots. None of it would matter anyway. Only a select few got lucky enough to make it into the history books, everyone else was just a face in the crowd. But I'm different! I'll be the one, you'll see! Pssh, fuck you. You can think that all you want, it doesn't change anything. The grander scheme of things never mattered, they needed to slow down and enjoy what was going on around them instead, it was one's own life that was truly important and no others. And more importantly they could maybe learn to keep their damn noses in their own business.

And that's why the kind ones were so difficult. They didn't know any better, she was aware of that, but they still wanted to help or do something because some gentle older soul told them it was the right thing to do. A slightly pained look crossed the delinquent's face as her eyes floated up to the brat in front of her. It made her harder to deal with. She had such expectant eyes, such a concerned expression, so eager to please. Just like a stupid puppy. Ritz didn't want to kick a puppy away, it didn't know what it was doing wrong. She released a heavy grumbling sigh. The musician didn't have the energy or the frame of mind to be toxic for too long, but she'd give it her best shot. Kind or not, Ritsuko didn't want strangers shoving their noses into her business or trying to strike up conversation when it wasn't wanted.

Relevant Weakness:

"*haaaaaah...* A punk is an undesirable little brat that goes out of her way to bother people when all they wanna do is be left alone," she rasped in irritation before taking another drag off her cigarette. The irritable adult thrust her arm with her drink outward, the ice rattling in the empty plastic cup as she held it toward the happy-go-lucky kid.
"...but I can tell you're not gonna go away, so if you wanna stick around go make yourself useful. Fill this up with water from the fountain." There we go, this works out fine. If the kid wanted to be helpful she'd let her be helpful, she should be glad she's getting what she asked for, right? Her skin crawled slowly with exhausting, serving as a reminder of her little helpful tincture, the special ingredient her water needed.
"...and salt, throw some salt in it. You can get some from the lobby where the popcorn stuff is." The electrolytes would be amazing for her aching muscles, she felt that if she yawned one more time her jaw would cramp up. Maybe she should call in sick to work...? No, no she needed the money. The old hag wouldn't pay her for time off, she already knew that. She'd tough it out. This afternoon was gonna fuckin' suuuuuuuuuck.

"O-oh." That was weird, her description of a punk wasn't anything like how Callie thought herself to be. She was very confused, had she done something wrong? Said something bad by mistake? She couldn't remember doing anything like that... Maybe she had just taken offense to something that Callie didn't mean as an insult? B-but if she had, that was all the more reason to make it up to her! Taking the empty cup from the lady, Callie would nod quickly and lose no time to head off whilst calling back. "I'll be back with it as quickly as possible!" Right, so water from the water fountain. That was easy enough, then go get salt from... The lobby with the popcorn? Uhh, she forgot to ask what a lobby was. A-although she knew that popcorn was at cinemas! 8D always brought her some whenever they went to watch something! So maybe she meant there? Hopefully... She wanted to help, not get shouted at again...

In her rush, the young vixen was at the fountain in no time and steadily filled the empty cup all the way to the top, making sure there was still some space at the top so it didn't all spill out easily. Okay! Objective one, tick! Now to go find the salt... This process was notably slower than the last as, for starter, the girl had to walk more carefully as to not spill the drink she had only just filled up and secondly... There was quite the line in the cinema. Fortunately, the long line was mainly large family groups so it didn't take too long before she was first in line. After a brief, confusing and poorly conveyed message of why Callie needed just salt to put in the drink she already had. The man behind the counter gave up arguing and just did what she asked for. Awesome! Objective two, tick! Now last part, to get it back!

"Here you go!" The young girl would say cheerfully, glad that she'd at least done something to help now. It felt nice to help out, even if the person she was helping was rather rude and probably wouldn't be very polite on the thank you side either. Oh well, she never helped people for a reward anyway. It just made her feel happy to know that she'd done something for someone. "One cup of water with extra salt. On the house!" She'd add with a lighthearted giggle.

Thank god, I thought she'd never leave. Giving me a damn migraine...

The musician watched the kid rush off in the wrong direction before quickly finding her way. Did she not know where the lobby was? They were right outside of it. Ritsuko took opportunity of the hyperactive child's absence to lay down on her bench and shut her eyes for a moment to ease her aching brain. Miserable yet oh-so-very tired, she knew she wouldn't fall asleep there. It was nearly impossible with the loud whine of cars and blindingly bright morning rays. What she'd give for someone to cut off her head, throw it in a box and bury it as far as they could dig. Maybe she wouldn't have to deal with her skull splitting open from all the damn light and noise. It was tempting to throw in her headphones and drown everything out with black metal, but the alcoholic was unsure whether or not that would make her headache better or get her to attempt to step in front of a bus. Jesus... her skin was crawling, head pounding, she could feel bile licking at the back of her throat. M-Maybe laying down wasn't such a good idea... but now she thought she'd throw up if she sat up too fast. Aaaaaaaand the earth was spinning. Fantastic.

God, if you exist, can you do me a solid and just fucking end me right now? That'd be cool, thanks.

Ritz held a lazy hand to her clammy forehead. How it was possible to be both burning up and cool to the touch at the same time was beyond her, but not beyond tequila. This was all fucking Kano's fault. If he'd just paid her in cash instead of an open tab she wouldn't have tried to imbibe herself to death on numbing poison to get the most bang from her buck. She probably drank more than he would've paid her, to be honest, it was sort of her mission for the evening. Play guitar, get money, get twisted, drink Kano out of his bar. Stupid cheapskate prick.
"Uuuuuuuuuuuurgh..." the pathetic moaned from her bench, squirming and dangling an arm as she begged The Reaper to take her away from her agony. Only Death could save her from that torment and it was too stingy to come, selfish asshole. Never convenient, huh? She wasn't left alone for too long before the blonde girl returned to grate upon her eardrums with her sing-songy chirps.
"Uuuuuuuuuuuuuuurgh your voice is like hot knives in my fah-reaking skull..." she complained, covering both her eyes with her hands.

Ungratefully snatching the plastic cup from her hands, Ritsuko attempted to take a drink while lying down, completely disregarding how gravity worked. As expected the top popped off and spilled down her face, soaking her hair with salty cold water.
"*cough cough hack!*" choked the rude adult, sitting up immediately and feeling the swimming within her stomach. Awesome. Totally fucking awesome! Why did all this happen to her?! Why was-?! Yep, there it was, vomit imminent. She could feel the tickle at the back of her throat. Her eyes stung with the salt in the drink, causing her to wince as she knew what was coming, cramps gripping her stomach and esophagus. But... maybe not. She could always choke back the urge with her drink, that's what it was good for. As long as she didn't chug it she'd be fine. Chewing on the straw between her lips, the alcoholic took a powerful, cathartic sip and...

Terrible. Horrible. The taste upon her tongue was nigh indescribable. It was popcorn salt. The dumb little bitch actually put popcorn salt in her drink. Nope, yep, it was coming, here it comes! Puffing her cheeks filled with the disgusting beverage outward, Ritz held a finger up to the little girl as she quickly stood and waddled to the trash can not ten feet from her.
"Huuuh, huuuuuh, huuuuuuuuuuuuurk! *hack hack! ...pthup*" came the splashing sounds of her stomach acids hitting the side of the trash can. The dumb little cunt! Who the fuck gets popcorn salt!? Stupid motherfucking-! No, stop, she tried her best. Not her fault she's a fuck up.
"Aaaaa-*cough*-aaaaargh..." Ritsuko groaned sickly. Home was sounding real good right about now.
"Urgh... shouldn't kids like you be in school or something?" she lightly accused. In all honesty she had no idea when school started, 'cept for when the sun rose. But she was never awake by then. Mornings could eat a fat dick.

"This girl is horrid. Completely vile, disrespectful and ungrateful. Why in the world do you always have to insist on helping people like this Cals? Like I get helping some people, but is she really worth the time and effort?" Callie's shadow Terra would mutter disapprovingly from within Callie's mind as she handed over the drink to the woman. "She's even insulting you as you give her the thing she asked for..."

"Heh, I'm sorry..." The young girl would say in a much quieter voice after giving the woman the drink, she was still adamant on ending this with her helping in some way or another, no matter what Terra was telling her to do. Although, from what occurred next it didn't seem like the whole 'helping' thing was quite being accomplished yet. Jumping back out of the way, not knowing what the woman was about to do, Callie would turn her eyes away after realizing exactly what she was doing with that trash can. T-that wasn't her fault was it? She asked for the drink to be like that, d-didn't she? I-it didn't seem to be helping her out much like the young vixen had hoped though... "A-are you okay...?" She'd ask cautiously, taking another step back incase the woman would now lash out at her in anger.

Except, what the woman did ask next wasn't exactly what Callie had been expecting. "Uh... School?" She'd say, looking slightly confused about why that subject of all things was the next thing to crop up. "I uhm, I don't go to school... Never have, or well... Not for as long back as I can remember anyway." Thinking back, she didn't really remember much from before she met Terra all those years ago in that creepy place. After that, she hadn't ever wanted to do anything like that. She just tried to make do living in the alleys with her teddy bear Lulu protecting her before she met J and 8D and they looked after her... W-wait, where was Lulu? Aww... She must've forgotten her on her rush out this morning. Lulu would of known what to tell Callie of how to deal with this situation... Wait... What was she meant to be thinking about? Oh, right. "I dunno, it sounded boring..."

The hung over delinquent held her throbbing head, wincing hard. Sunlight peeking over the buildings was not her friend right now, not even the shadowy solace from her dark sunglasses could shoo away the blinding luminescence. Nor were the loud noises, or the cool morning breeze, anything and everything was a pain to experience. Every little sensation and subtle detail felt like a million tiny little ice picks inserting themselves into her corneas and eardrums, vicious little needles prickling her skin with cold and ache. The salt still sat heavy upon her tongue with its disgusting taste, and Ritsuko ran her hand several times across it to get rid of the tingly earthy sensation. Not that her hand tasted any better, her nicotine-stained and calloused fingers were similarly unpleasant but at least her tongue wasn't gonna shrivel inside her mouth. Like, seriously? Her thought process was mind-boggling. Ritz wiped her saliva-coated hand on her pants leg as she smacked her lips to rid herself of the awful flavor.

"I... *hack! ...mmmstop asking me that, I got it the- *cough* ...the first time. Drop it," she croaked, still sputtering and wiping her mouth. Jesus, she'd be tasting Popcorn Water from Hell for a straight week, freakin' kids... The tiny Japanese woman ran a hand down her numb face in exhaustion, slightly disturbing her shaded lenses. This morning sucked so hard. Kano pissed her off, she felt grungy and looked like a mess, suddenly she was a child-magnet, and worst of all the sun was out and shining. Meaning that lightning couldn't strike down from the heavens and end her misery. Ritz never got that lucky anyway. The slow, comforting, slightly addictive massaging of her own unfeeling face halted for the little girl. So... she's never been to school? That would... actually explain a lot. Most of the school kids she knew were little rebellious hellions filled with angst and a disrespect toward anyone that didn't have two-hundred dollar sneakers or whatever, this one was kind of naive and respectable. What were kids learning in school, anyway?

"Sooooooo... you're, like, homeschooled or something?" the guitarist grimaced, a hand still on her throbbing scalp.
Please God, let it be soon! Just wipe me off the map, all I'm askin'.
"Pssh, good," she snorted, "Public school's not gonna teach you anything anyway, last time I checked the government thought it was a good idea to give Power of Arrest to teenagers, can't imagine they'd teach you any skills you'd actually use. Seriously, child soldiers have never been a good thing in pretty much all of history." Idiots never opened a damn book, did they? Might as well wear a pair of "S"s on their caps and make everyone wear badges or something. Endymion was seriously shit, if she hadn't had business there Ritz would seriously contemplating heading outside the walls and taking her chances. At least Demons could be reasoned with, The Queen just had the one flawed world view. Art and free-thinking are inferior, join the hive mind! Dumb bitch. Last time someone tried this they lost they Cold War. Well, it was interesting to think about, but not anything she cared to have her hands in either way. As long as she was left the hell alone it didn't matter to Ritsuko how they ran their hell-hole of a devil-infested ruin. She was there to hunt people down, not become a guerrilla warfare specialist. Because those ended up with just as happy an ending. With a little bit of luck all this'd end just like the French Revolution. A beheaded queen, plenty of assholes dead in the streets, and most importantly, something she wasn't around to see. Perhaps. Some of those she'd actually love to get her hands on, might be worth the ride.

Ritsuko gave a weak shrug, wishing that she didn't have to move her sore muscles to perform the action,
"...but whatever, not like I give a shit. It's really none of my business who you kids learn from. Pick your poison: you can be stupid and have every other stupid motherfucker agreeing with you or you can be smart and have everyone else think you're wrong." Ritsuko gave a sidelong glance before returning her dull, bloodshot eyes to the perky little girl.
"...either way, you really need to learn what people mean by salt. Like, the kinds in the packets?" Cutesy little ditz needed a dose of Real World alright.

The young vixen wouldn't really know what to do and say as she watched the woman wince in pain from the sun whilst coughing and spluttering over the drink she'd just had. The girl would nod slightly when told not to ask if the woman was okay anymore, it was really hard for her to think of what to do... She really wanted to help out and make this girls day a little easier, y-yet everything she tried just seemed to backfire and make it worse... "D-does this help?" She'd question timidly, stepping slightly to the right so that her body casted a shadow over the woman's face so the sun wasn't in her eyes anymore. It was the best she could think of really, if the sun was really causing her that much trouble that should at least help a little, right?

Callie would shake her head. "N-no... I, uh, don't get homeschooled either..." She'd say, gulping slightly out of worry of what she might say after finding that out. "I think I may of gone to a school once... B-but it was a very, very long time ago and I don't really remember anything about it... Then some stuff happened, and I ended up alone for a while so I never really bothered then, it was more important just to try and survive I guess..." The girl would explain, giving her best to make a excuse that actually would pass as to why she never went to school, even if the excuse she was using was actually the truth. "T-then, when I finally did have a home again, I just never really got back into that kinda stuff... I find it too hard to sit and do anything like that, i-it's way too boring..." She'd stutter nervously, remembering how annoyed Zavie got when he first learned that she didn't even know how to read yet. She could write out her own name, that was good enough right?

"Honestly, I've never cared about being smart... Or having people agree with me, or anything like that really. I just like to be happy, so I do what I like to do that makes me happy. A-and one of those things is to try and help other people feel happier... Y-yet I didn't really do a great job this time, h-heh..." She'd smile weakly at the woman. "But every mistake is just a new thing you know not to do next time." The girl would look at the ground for a moment before looking back up to the woman's drink. "I, I uh... Could go try and get you a new drink if that one was wrong... Did you mean those little blue bags with the salt in?"

Ritsuko tilted herself away from the helpful little girl's... helpful little... assisting shadow? Kids today were weird, she'd never seen someone just so... goddamn insistent to be useful somehow. It kinda bordered on creepy. What a strange little kid. Little being metaphorical of course, it sorta pissed her off that she was about the same size as schoolchildren. She'd blame the scientists for that one, even if it wasn't their fault. She wasn't exactly sure what being pumped full of drugs did to her fragile little body way back when other than fuck with her brain a lot, being short was probably a side-effect too. Fuckin' scumbags. Not the worst of her problems but still something to be bitter about.
"Don't do that," chided the tiny adult, wincing at the harsh sunlight resumed frying her retinas. Ritz was more of a night person. The moon didn't fuckin' blind you and all the obnoxious brats were asleep... along with everyone else. Easier to wander around alone and do what she wanted without being bothered. In all honesty she was beginning to get frustrated. She didn't want any help! Damn, kid! Just drop it already!

But she wouldn't tell her that for more than a few reasons. For one it was kinda nice running into a teenager that wasn't a complete asshole, for two she new exactly how reinforcement worked as a motivator from a lot of painful experience. But the prime one was what she spoke about. Homelessness and loss. So... the Eternal Divide screwed her up too, huh? Ritz had been in her shoes before, still kinda was. But she was older, she had power when that happened. The power of an adult in an uncaring world. She had the option available to do things like get a job or carve out a place for herself. Sure it was hard and depressing, but she had the choice to do that. She could strain and struggle and get somewhere, where she was now was a far cry from sleeping in empty barns and hoping the temps didn't drop too low. The girl... couldn't. She was along for the The World's most fucked up carnival ride. She lowered her shades a bit toward the perky blonde, immediately regretting doing so as fierce sunlight filtered into her aching pupils. Ritsuko winced and hissed, squeezing an eye shut as she visored a hand over her face. It still gave her a goddamn migraine but she quickly got used to it.

"You, uh... you alright now, sweety...?" she inquired a bit softer. The guitarist attempted a sort of friendly smile but it came out as more of a pained grimace. She could feel the lump form in her throat. If this little kid was in a bad situation still, well, that was Life. But it wasn't anything she'd ever want to continue whether she was involved or not. Certainly some kind of responsible adult would've at least tried to enroll their kid back in school? It reminded her of a few of her foster families. A couple of them weren't much better than the facility was once she was freed. One of them, the Thomas family, didn't and they were some religious nut jobs. Ritz didn't want someone else to go through that, especially anyone younger than her. In hindsight she might've stuck it out because she'd become acclimatized to it or she was old enough to rebel and fight or maybe because she wasn't in the system long... but it could break spirits. She'd seen it first hand, it wasn't pretty. Thinking about it began to infuriate her, but she'd stay calm. Getting angry was the first step in doing something and being pissy wasn't about to accomplish much.

"Look, just forget the damn drink for a second," she waved off with a concerned tone. It was just as well. She'd probably hit her weekly value of sodium already, good thing the cigarettes would kill her before the high cholesterol.
"You need to go to school, or... learn something from somewhere! It's not about being smart or not it's about... it's about not being dumb. You can do whatever you want, but you gotta be smart about it, m'kay? Or people are gonna take advantage of you and you won't be able to stop them." Ritsuko rubbed a tired hand across her forehead. This wasn't what she expected to or wanted to deal with this morning, the only thing she wanted to deal with right now was her pillow and stupid alarm clock going off in five hours. Why did The World need to suck as much as it did?
"Look kid, you got a phone or somethin'?" she asked, impatience beginning to creep into her voice. The hungover musician wanted to be nice, but it was pretty damn hard at whatever-it-was in the morning coming down from a hard night chasing pink elephants. It was tough enough for her as it was without taking on other people's problems. In some strange way this was her problem too, at least one she'd had to deal with before. Nothing might come from it, but she'd try to give it a shot. The little blond girl deserved at least one chance.

The young girl would nod. "I'm okay now. It was kinda hard for the first few years, but once I found a family to live with again my life has been way better. They've looked after me for years now and as much as they're quite a... Crazy bunch, but they're all loving and I love being there with them!" The girl would explain, referring to J, Kay and 8D as the crazy bunch that she lived with. J was the definition of a mad scientist, always up to weird sciencey stuff that she didn't understand at all. 8D would always clown around with her and they'd play silly games and joke about a lot just like he was her older brother. Kay was probably the most normal one out of the lot, yet even she had her moments where she'd go a little crazy with having to deal with the rest of the people in that household once in a while. Then finally there was Terra, he technically lived there too now right? He had to always be with Callie and if she lived there then so did he! And he was like a best friend that came with her where ever she went!

Callie would give a worried expression as the woman carried on talking about school stuff, she was scared where that was going... She really hated that kinda stuff, it always seemed boring a-and she wasn't dumb! W-was she? The girl would run her hand through her fringe to push some of her loose hairs out of her eyes then pulled at her hood to make sure it was still properly on her head, mainly as something to try and do to be distracted from the conversation of school. Although one thing did make her ears perk a little and catch her attention. "T-take advantage of me? What do you mean by that? If anyone was trying to be mean to me I'd just... Run away, or hide or something..." She'd reply timidly, no one had ever tried to do something like that before. O-or at least she had never noticed them if they were trying to... Maybe she was too dumb to realize these things, b-but it had never effected her badly had it? She'd always been happy with the way things are! This was all so confusing.

"A phone...?" The vixen would question, why was she asking if she had a phone? She didn't seem like the sort that really wanted to be her friend or anything, if anything she seemed as if she wanted her to get out of her face. Maybe she should of done a while ago, yet she couldn't help trying to be nice. Eventually the girl would shake her head. "N-no, I don't... Never have. My big bro has one in his shoe though! I never understood how that worked." She'd admit, remembering back to the time that she and 8D called up Zavie on his 'foot phone'. It seemed like a weird place to install a phone, if you called someone by mistake they'd only be able to hear your foot steps! Although the girl noticed how the lady seemed to be getting impatient again. "W-why do you ask?" She'd question curiously before realizing that after all this talking the girl hadn't even found out what the ladies name was yet. "By the way... W-what's your name? Mines Callie. I-it's nice to meet you."

Ritsuko relaxed her worried expression after hearing the little girl speak. It was a relief to hear she was in good hands... or at least wasn't being abused. Foster care was no picnic and it could get even worse if it wasn't "official". Desperate times lead to desperate people, it wouldn't surprise her if someone was using her as a welfare check at best or something much more depraved at worst. The more things change the more they stay the same, history had a funny way of repeating itself ad nauseam. Beginning of time, an era of peace, the end of the world, people were always monsters deep inside and it took being on the receiving end of such evil to see it. But she was also relieved because this was one less thing she had to deal with. Not that she didn't care, it was a very personal topic to the guitarist, but she was a member of the working poor with enough baggage to fill a jet-liner. Playing Detective to go rescue children from rough households wasn't on her list of things she felt like taking care of, and that was the problem. If she wouldn't do it, who would? No one, she'd bet. People were blind, selfish scum and that's something that would never change. It was even worse on the streets. They'd see a starving child in tattered clothes, hand them five dollars, and strut away with a sense full of pride and accomplishment and belief that they were a saint. No one ever fully committed to saving them, no one ever went the extra mile and put in some self-sacrifice. Everyone was content enough to be smug in their own apparent "goodness" and go about their day like they walked on water. Ritz wasn't like that, as terrible a human-being as she seemed. She knew what helping was, and she was either prepared to make that choice and stick to it or accept how shitty she was for not making that jump. Why couldn't anyone else?

But at the same time it brought her relief that she didn't have to worry about one more thing complicating her life. She might've resigned herself to either self-sacrifice or avoid it, but that never meant she'd enjoy it, only that she knew what it would mean. The only worry on her mind was that she wouldn't get enough sleep or that Chitose would yell at her at work and make it suck because she was a bitch with a lot of free time, solving troubling home situations was completely off her radar. Ritsuko clutched her throbbing head, breathing sharply through her nose as she tried to ease her headache from the kid's shrill voice. The hungover lady could feel her brain cells committing suicide with every word she spoke, every passing car, the scorching light of the sun... who the fuck decided everyone should be awake by now!? Ritz's demeanor darkened with the dull agony she was feeling, and she could sense its effects across the blond girl. She was beginning to feel uncomfortable, fidgeting and playing with her hair. The irritated guitarist couldn't tell if it was because she was being lectured, her own bad attitude, or something else entirely but it was enough to set her on edge. As much as she despised everyone else it was simple to get in their headspace, body language was clear as day to her between the lessons she'd taken and what she could observe. A question such as "what taking advantage" meant set Ritsuko still. She kind of set herself up for it, but it wasn't something she cared to explain, especially as nebulous and abstract as it was. But still she'd try, the girl would be expecting an answer and dodging the question didn't look like a valid course of action.

"Well... I mean..." she hesitated, grimacing in chagrin, "...like, if someone's smarter than you, they could make you do something that wasn't good for you and you wouldn't even know it, right?" The small Japanese woman played with her own hair, suddenly finding herself on the bad side of a concept she didn't want to explore. "It's not something you can run away from. Uuuumm... like, what if I said I was a police officer and you had to go hurt someone or I'd arrest you? If you knew better, you'd know that a police officer couldn't legally say that. ...but it's sorta more complicated." Ritz knew what she was talking about, but it was hard to explain, specifically to young people. It was about not taking things at face value, about knowing your human rights, about who you can trust and who you can't. If you weren't informed, you could find yourself in a bad spot with no way out, like... a gang member duped into a bad run? Something like that. Fuckin' A this shit was hard to explain. It was so goddamn easy, though! Why didn't anyone else get it?!

The failure to complete a thought set the Japanese woman even more sour. It wasn't hard to get angry at herself when that happened, it made her look stupid even though she wasn't. She could at least reach the point she was getting at, it was rare to find anyone else with that level of basic common sense. Not like whoever she was speaking about with a phone in his boot. She tilted her weary head, raising an eyebrow at the concept. Who the hell puts a phone in their shoe? What if you step in a puddle? Nerds were fuckin' weird, technology made no goddamn sense. Ritz wouldn't mind if it all disappeared, wouldn't affect her life any.

"Oh! Umm... It's not important," she would relent, shaking her raven hair slightly. In all honesty she wanted to give her someone to call in case things went terrible, but it seemed that wasn't the case anymore. Thank god. The very thought of it sent her blood into a boil, Ritsuko thought that anyone who acted that way deserved as much brutality as they freely gave. People like that didn't deserve to be called such, they were monsters and she knew that. Killing monsters was just something she happened to be raised to do, although that'd be a loose interpretation of the reality of things. Better that way, in her opinion. Much more preferred than being a tool of war or a murderer. Was it really murder when what you killed couldn't be considered "human"?
"...I'm Ritz," she sighed with exhaustion, "...like rich, only not." Ritsuko stood straighter on sore legs, stretching in the burning morning light. If there wasn't a problem here, she failed to see the need to hang around. Her bed was calling her.
"Look, I gotta go, okay? I gotta go to work in a little bit. ...but I wanna see you back here, alright? You have to promise me, you wanna help people, right? I've got a good way to do that, but you gotta come back tomorrow." She knew that the little girl was agreeable, that much she could pick up on. This was never a good trait to have, anyone like that usually went along with whatever someone told them. A real Huckleberry Finn to the Tom Sawyer. But she could use that. It couldn't hurt her to learn a thing or two. It was all for her own good anyway.

"Uhhm..." The young vixen would take a moment to think about what the women said. If they were smarter than her, they'd make her do bad things? That didn't sound right... Usually smart people were doing smart people things instead of caring what she was doing, J just liked to be left alone in his lab for example! This all seemed very weird... "Why would anyone want me to do bad things anyway? Good things are always better." The girl would explain, still not completely understanding the concept of where the woman was going with all this. "And you're not a police officer! You don't have a badge, or the blue uniform or, uhm, the loud noised cars they have... I think..." The girl would say, turning around to see if the woman had a police car parked anywhere nearby, which was luckily not the case as it would of confused the girl even more.

The girl would try to think about all the reasons why what she was being told could be important, yet most of the ideas she came out with didn't really make any real world sense and more than not scared her a little. It didn't really make sense, she had never heard of anything like this until now, and no one had ever made her do a bad thing in the eightish years she'd been living here... Had they? She'd try to think back at all the things she had done in the past, there wasn't much of anything bad in her memory though. Whether nothing ever did happen or she had just forgotten about it was another matter all together though, it didn't seem like anything bad had ever happened though. The worst she could remember was having to steal food a few times... Yet that wasn't anyone forcing her to do it, that was just she had to or she'd starve so... She didn't think that was the same thing the woman was talking about.

"Ritz?" She'd repeat to make sure she heard it the woman's name correctly. Like rich?... But not? Huh, she had never heard someone have that name before, maybe it was a rare name? Unique even! Kinda like the way the woman smelled, it had been bugging Callie the whole time they were talking. She wasn't quite sure what the smell was, but it was definitely present on her, yet it was kinda hard to pick up properly through the smell of alcohol and smoke that lingered on Ritz and, well... Especially with how the conversation had been going, Callie didn't quite feel like asking why the women smelled funny would be a good idea and all.

"You got to go? I was on my way to meet someone before bumping into you, so I should probably head on over that way too myself." The girl explained, referring to her friend Zavie who she wanted to ask questions about what they had been doing last night and see if he was okay. "You have a way to help people...? H-how do I know you're not trying to make me do a bad thing?" She'd reply, a tinge of a teasing expression on her voice. "But okay! I don't think I'm doing much tomorrow, or at least haven't planned anything yet. So I'll try to make it back out here!" She'd nod before waving Ritz off as she left.

"Eh, could of gone better, could of gone worse." Terra's voice would comment on the whole situation, honestly a little proud of his small, usually helpless host for managing to end up having a semi-friendly conversation with someone like that. "I'd say you pulled it off eventually, eight out of ten for effort. Nehehe!"

The messy alcoholic ran a tired hand down her face as a statement, peering between her fingers. Ooooooh such a naive little girl. It was a shame, really, but she was still learning. Or not learning as it seemed. Ritsuko was scarcely that age when she began to figure out how fucked up people were and how to think for herself, but she had help. Aoide. The constant guiding voice whispering behind her ear for better or worse. She'd grown to become reliant on her to an extent, much to her own chagrin. Yet she still exercised the freedom to make her own judgments and decisions, Aiode gave her a lot of freedom to live along those lines. She could disagree and act of her own accord, free to suffer or succeed of her own merit. That's something she hoped to convey to Callie: critical thinking skills. It honestly perplexed her how people could live their entire lives without truly questioning their stance, beliefs, or anything they'd ever been told.
"No that's........ sure, kid," she would relent. The young adult wasn't in the mood or state of mind to answer a ton of questions on the nature of good and evil and why bad people did bad things or what it meant to be bad in the first thing, Her head was long past about ready to fall of her neck with the ache coursing through it, the only major goal on her mind was lugging her weary frame to her room and passing out on top of her sheets.

It was a small miracle that she was able to stay awake at all right now, the dehydration certainly wasn't doing her any favors. Nor was the sodium intake. Ritsuko's head lolled in her hand limply as she struggled to remain in some form of conscious state while keeping her brain from leaking out of her ears at the same time. It felt like metal caterpillars were blending her brain into smoothie between the morning commotion and the hyperactive teen's voice. She'd haphazardly shake her head up and down at the repetition of her name to ensure she understood, rubbing her temple all the while. No surprise there, "ritz" was sort of an archaic word. She was a bit old-fashioned that way.

"Mmmmm... you don't," rasped the miserable hungover wretch, a small smirk attempting to pull at her lips. Acting intimidating wasn't her goal there, but she was glad that little girl at least showed some sort of caution with strangers. The World was a cruel and unforgiving place, one couldn't be too careful no matter the circumstances. Even if she was trying to be helpful in her own twisted way Ritz would rather Callie be smart than trusting of some unfamiliar alcoholic. Good way to find yourself on the 6 o'clock news. She slowly stood on aching legs as the exuberant young one said her goodbyes and rushed off to join the rest of the noise where she belonged. Fine for her. Stupid fucking morni-
Sssssshit.
"Come back tomorrow mo- tomorrow afternoon!" the drunk shouted toward her back, quickly correcting herself. Mornings weren't a time of day she enjoyed experiencing. Her calling stressed just how hoarse her throat felt from all the cigarettes and puking at night, damn she needed to go to bed already. Floating eyes glanced at her cell phone, a free hand running through her hair. It was time for fuckin' sleep. Work was in about 5 hours and she was tired of all this bullshit. Oh well. Hopefully she'd dream up something to do tomorrow.