As many of you guys know Iâve been figuring out how to balance my new job with finding time to RP. Unfortunately, I cannot maintain two characters. I love Anita so deeply and I have been playing her on and off in different iterations of this group for 5 years. However, right now Iâm gonna be stepping away from writing her.Â
I wanted to take a moment to thank everyone who has plotted with me/her and helped see the character grow and evolve. It has been such a joy writing with you all as this chaotic snek lady. I do hope to bring more of her story to life some day down the line.Â
Anita will still be in White Crest, and if your character and Anita have a connection and you want to plot what that would look like for your character moving forward hit me up on discord.Â
TIMING: Last Night / This MorningÂ
LOCATION: Dellâs / Casa de NievesÂ
SUMMARY: They say relapse is part of recovery...
CONTENT WARNINGS: addiction tw, alcoholism tw
Nothing felt okay in Anitaâs life lately. She was overwhelmed by emotions and felt like she was constantly second guessing herself. It was a gnawing oppression, and no matter how hard she tried to fight it she found herself constantly spiraling. She kept seeing Xiomaraâs face every time she felt a morbid craving, remembering the terror in her eyes as those hunters held her solely responsible for the deaths that they had caused together. The more she considered her urges the more helpless she felt. Knowing that sitting alone on her couch was only going to make matters worse, Anita decided to go for a walk around town. Which was her first miscalculation of the evening.Â
Anitaâs head was pounding and her hands were shaking. It was a mistake, walking into Dellâs. For a moment she just stood there in the doorway, both literally and figuratively trying to decide if she should take a step forward or take a step back. She was debating between going up to the bar and getting a drink or going home and calling her sponsor. But then in a split second, it seemed like the universe made the choice for her when the bartender spotted her and yelled excitedly, âAnita returns!â A few of the regulars, one of which she had been, turned towards her and cheered her return as well. It wasnât exactly how she figured her first slip off the wagon would start.Â
Tentatively, she took a few steps into the bar still somewhat trying to convince herself to leave. âWe still got it for ya!â Edwin, the bartender said enthusiastically as he reached up to the top shelf and pulled down a bottle of Casa Dragones before immediately pouring a shot out for her. âWasnât sure if you would, but we hoped our best customer would be coming back to town. And if that was the case, I knew youâd want the good tequila.âÂ
It was uncharacteristic for Anita to be quiet for this long, and Edwin and the other regulars knew that. There was a thick awkwardness that held heavy in the air as Anita stood there staring at the shot instead of taking it. She had been doing so good, hell - sheâd just fucking made it to eight months of sobriety. But everything in this town felt too hard to handle. Erin was alive. And Marley was in love with her. They were getting their shot to be some perfect couple and Anita knew sheâd never be a part of something like that. And then there was Teagan, who was so kind and so sweet but that also felt overwhelming. She wasnât that person that Teagan thought she was and the pressure to be it felt insurmountable.Â
And as all of those thoughts and fears and disappointments flooded her mind, Anita reached out and picked up the shot glass and knocked it back in a swift chug. And just like that, she fell into old routines. Except this time around, she didnât have her tolerance. For the first time in a very long time, her evening was a blur. She knew the highlights though - drinking, lots of it. And ⊠a woman?Â
The next morning Anita felt truly and spectacularly shitty. The sun peaking into her bedroom through the shades made her feel angry. Normally sheâd welcome the warmth that came with the light, but the light was too blinding at the moment for her to see any beauty in it. It wasnât just the migraine and body aches though, Anita felt an overwhelming disappointment and guilt. And the worst part of that feeling was that her first thought on how to deal with it was to drink some more.Â
And maybe she would.Â
As she started to wake up, however, Anita realized that she wasnât alone in her bed. Yeah, there absolutely had been a woman last night in her haze of drinking. Which would have been fine if not for the snake-like bite mark on the womanâs shoulder. What made matters worse was the fact that the woman was cold ... deathly so. Anita felt sick. Sheâd been here before, sheâd done this before - drank too much and lost control during sex, accidentally sending venom through the veins of an unsuspecting lover.Â
Anita practically jumped out of bed as she ran to the bathroom to be sick. Had she really just relapsed twice in one night? And this time she didnât have anyone to call to help her clean up her own mess. But then there was a noise that snapped her out of her spiral. Not just a noise, but a voice. âYou doinâ okay in there?â She quickly cleaned herself up then walked back into the bedroom to find that the woman she thought she had killed was ⊠perfectly alive. No, that couldnât be right? Her body temperature was too low.Â
âI thought you were dead.â Was all Anita could think to say in the moment.Â
âI mean, I am.â The naked stranger in her bed replied.
âNo, I mean - I thought I killed you. Is that bite not from me?â Nothing was making sense to her, or maybe it was just the fact that she was experiencing a truly horrific hangover for the first time in a very long time.Â
âOh, the bite is most definitely from you. Didnât realize you were trying to kill me with that though - very kinky.â Anita must have had a dumbfounded expression on her face because the woman continued to explain, âYou donât remember much of last night, do you?â She shook her head softly. âWe got drunk, came back here, you told me you could tell that I was too cold to be alive, then after asking a few questions to make sure you werenât trying to kill me I told you that I was a zombie. Then we fucked.âÂ
Undead. That explained the body temperature. That explained why she wasnât dead - her venom didnât do anything to vampires or zombies. The question gnawed at her, however, had she bit knowing it wouldnât do any harm or was it a convenient mistake? The reality of the situation was too much for her to process. She grabbed her coat and purse. âDonât be here when I get back,â she said to the stranger in her bed as she made her way to the front door - not sure if sheâd end up at a meeting or at a liquor store.
Hi all, I posted in the hiatus channel a few days ago but wanted to take a moment and put this up on my blogs too. I will be taking a ~2 week hiatus ending 2/25/2022 while I prep for moving/move & start a new job. Thank you for your patience and understanding right now! Will be around a bit on discord so feel free to reach out there if you want to chat! xoxo gossip snakeÂ
[pm]Oh, Anita. Iâm so sorry. I shouldâve taken more care with the topic. Of course itâs scary. What they did was traumatizing and so wrong. Iâll be more conscious of this, okay?
[pm] No, I didnât mean it like it was a big deal or something. Just, I dunno, telling the family clearly has a different meaning to me than it did to you. And thatâs okay.Â
Things donât always get to happen however you want them to happen. Thatâs not what I meant. Youâre not the first person to say that to me, and they fucking lied. Theyâre gone. I release you from that promise. I donât want you to promise me anything, please. Cause itâll just hurt worse when it gets broken.
[pm] Always. Itâs why I try to keep my mind and/or body busy. Anxious energy is still energy. Just have to utilize it accordingly.
Well, it isnât a big thing. I think youâre making it bigger than it is. I donât have anyone to really discuss whatâs happening in my life besides my family and a friend or two. Itâs not like I told them youâre my girlfriend or something. Because youâre not. Weâre seeing each other, and I like you. Of course Iâm going to recount those things. They make me happy and excited. There is no perception. Just how we spend time together and how you make me feel. Does that scare you?
[pm] Yeah, I suppose thatâs true.Â
No, I think you donât realize how big a deal that is. Yeah, maybe. Sorry, I guess this is just a sensitive topic for me. Only ever told my parents about one girl and ... well, Iâve told you about how that all went. Does it scare me? No. Of course not. Yes. Itâs fucking terrifying. It does, honestly. Iâve never had any luck in the non-one-night-stand department. It always ends badly for me. Really badly.Â
[pm] Do you like living there? Maybe you could move now. But my girlfriend likes to swim in Dark Score. It always really worries me, but she says sheâs scarier than anything in the lake. Which I totally donât believe considering a giant squid came out of it like two years ago. Yeah, could me.
No. I found out about my magic like a year ago, because my friend, who wasnât my friend then, saw me accidentally using it. She helped me realize what I was and what I could do with this power, how to control it. Sheâs still teaching me, actually. No need to apologize. Mustâve been a big gap. Sometimes I wish I wouldâve had a sibling, but Iâm also glad someone else didnât have to go through what I did.
[pm] I like the solitude. And Iâve spent too much time making the place feel like home to abandon it now. Ha - yeah. I remember that squid. Fucking wild. Wait, Iâve been seeing someone who likes to swim in that lake and also said sheâs scarier than the things that might be in there I really hope I havenât been making out with your fiancee. Is she a nix?
Oh? Thatâs good that your now-friend found you then, I guess. Yeah, it is a big gap. About twenty years. Siblings arenât all that awesome, and they donât always experience the same things you do. My sisters, for example, were involved in that whole âparents eating girlfriendâ thing. And not on my side of it all.Â
Ah, no, no, I donât think making a meal off of only vending machine food is substantial, though some of it does tasteâŠ. not bad. Sheâs not in the hospital anymore, though she did break her arm, and that was rough. But sheâs doing better!
If it sounds any better, I do try to eat relatively healthy otherwise, though I like at least a cup of tea a day, and I do have an unfortunate sweet tooth.
.
Iâd think if you only ate out of vending machines youâd find yourself in the hospital once again. Except as a patient, not as a visitor. Obviously. Glad to hear it wasnât anything too scary. Broken bones must suck, but otherwise they are very common.Â
Hey, donât mind me. If it sounded like I was judging what you ate I did not mean it to come off like that. Processed foods just ... arenât high on my own list of things I enjoy eating. But nothing wrong with indulging your sweet tooth. Â
Hm! Probably. You ever worked with the Park? Gotta know little bit of everything for my own work. But got a personal interest in insects. Whatâve you been seeing with em?
.
Do you mean like .. the National Park in town? Or just like, any park? You probably mean the National Park. If you did mean that, then yes - I have been there. Many times, actually. Itâs a lovely piece of forest. Do you work there?
My interest is more professional than personal, but any friend of bugs is a friend of mine. Iâve just been hearing some claims about ... particularly large and/or aggressive insects attacking around town. Have you noticed anything recently?
It doesnât seem fine. But, I think youâre amazing and are the kind of woman to tell a family about. Youâre lovely and so, so kind, Anita. At least, you have been to me.
[pm] I did not know that, actually. That sounds really fucking awful. Youâre just...always anxious? About everything?
No, itâs fine. It just seems like thatâs ... a bit thing? Like a big step? Telling people about me. Cause we arenât dating. I just donât wanna disappoint you by not living up to your perception of me.Â
Not sure itâs in the cards for anybody, around here. Or anywhere, maybe.Â
I donât know anything about client confidentiality. If people donât want me airing out their dirty laundry, they shouldnât throw it at me. So, all right. This lady comes to me, yeah? Wants me to find her sister. The police arenât listening to her, which isnât much of a surprise. Lot of missing persons cases around here. So sheâs taking matters into her own hands. I track the lady down, find her shacked up with some Hollywood type. He had some private security team following him around, whole nine yards, and I get there just in time to stop one of his own damn guards from taking a shot at him. And I shouldâve let them take the damn shot. The guy didnât even give me anything after. Thatâs the fun shit. Not cheating husbands and insurance fraud.
Ask anybody who knows me, Iâm an optimist. Real sunshiney kind of guy. Sure, if youâre paying. What could go wrong out there, right?
.
Youâre probably right.Â
Thatâs my kind of PI! I guess it also helps that you donât take repeat clients, so if you spill their secrets itâs not like youâre losing business. So you like your private investigating with a side of hero-for-hire, huh? Is it the thrill of the near-death experience that you like or is it the whole saving people thing?
Yeah, Iâm not surprised. Not only do I get that vibe from you but itâs actually the exact same vibe that I exude. Thatâs how I knew youâd really love a murder cruise. Oops, no I mean a totally regular cruise. Cause nothing is gonna go wrong at all. But before we go I am gonna need to take an insurance policy out on you. Thatâs cool and normal, yeah?
[pm] You can guarantee that? Oh, so youâre very confident, arenât you? I just hope Iâm good enough.
They asked who the woman I went on a date with was. Should I not have said anything? Iâm sorry. I hope I didnât upset you.
[pm] Well, not a foolproof guarantee. I am very confident though. And literally, donât even clutter your mind with worries like that. Iâll take the lead.
Uh, no, itâs fine? Itâs just not something Iâm used to. Iâm not really the kind of woman you tell your family about typically, I guess. But itâs fine. Not weird. Doesnât make me feel weird Iâm not upset about it.
Pretty close. Iâm a PE teacher. I mean⊠Itâs still the U.S.
Or they could move them to a beekeeperâs place, right? Some people can die from one bee sting. I have this one kid in my class.. I gotta carry a first aid kid just for him.
Hey, I donât disagree with you here. I donât want to see bees vanish or anything. Now hornets... So youâre a bug professor?
Not sure if those are very similar professions at all. Do you work at the local high school?Â
They could, I suppose. My experience with public servants is that they tend to take the easy road. Which isnât relocating bees - but killing them. Well, okay yes thatâs true for people who are deathly allergic. That isnât most people, though.Â
Well thatâs certainly good to hear. A lot of people think the bee extinction scare is fully over, but they are still dying and experiencing colony collapse at alarming rates. Uh... yes? Well, not anymore actually. Howâd you know that?
[pm] Itâs in the past. Doesnât much matter now, does it?
Yes, I do mean sex. Tried to take a cute route with it to avoid getting flustered, but here I am again, flustered. Making out shirtless is fun and all, but I have a feeling the next step is fun and not so scary with you. If you take the lead one of these nights, I can follow and hopefully Iâm not bad.Â
I did. I havenât even told them everything, and they already think you sound wonderful.Â
[pm] I guess not.Â
Well, it was very cute indeed. But youâre also very cute when youâre flustered, so thatâs a win-win for me. Oh absolutely, I am all about fun. In fact, I can almost guarantee a spectacularly fun time. Iâll happily take the lead, hermosa.Â
No, sorry - I guess I meant why did you tell your family about me? Weâre not
Too early. Way too early. Weâre halfway through winter.
I donât know. Climate change would be global, wouldnât it? Have you seen the weather in New York City? This does not make any sense.
Ha-ha. I just figured theyâd know what to do regarding my neighbor. He probably got stung a couple of times or more. And last time I checked, theyâre more than capable of taking care of a bee hive.
.
Oh? Are you a climatologist? Iâm not claiming that it makes sense, Iâm just observing what is going on. But to answer your question - no. I donât keep up with the weather in places where I donât live.Â
Perhaps, but do you know what theyâll likely do to that hive? Destroy it. And if any bees manage to survive theyâll have to find another hive and hope they get accepted into the colony. A few bee stings can be recovered from. Losing hive after hive in a town can have a massive impact on pollination. Thatâs why Iâm offering for people to reach out to me so we can avoid these extreme âsolutionsâ.Â
Would hope it WAS just climate change this go round. You seen a spike in insect complaints? Definitely noticed a change in flora. Hard to fucking ignore all that is. And the insects too! Fuck. Gonna bite Big One to shreds to fucking Whatâve you been seeing? Work with em myself. Soâs important to keep on top of things.
.
Hold on....you also work with insects?! And local flora? How have we never met before? Wait, fuck, are you who they hired to replace me at UMWC? Cause I do not think I can handle that right now.Â