for RUSTIN : sit . gesture for my muse to sit down .
what did the world smell like before humankind came along and ruined everything? moist dirt? sweet fruits? animal shit? rustin can't even try and guess anymore; the plane he exists in has had every single atom infiltrated by the hot stench of tobacco. it had a weight to it, this smell. a texture ... sometimes the sharp taste of something chemical will zap him out of the dull smokey rhythm he has fallen into but it is only momentary. soon enough he'll need another hit. something stronger, something weirder, something deadlier...
dove gestures for him to sit and all rustin can offer in return is a small nod. what did she smell like before the still dusty louisiana waters soaked her wings down? something lighter, he imagines. lighter than all the expensive furniture she's surrounded with. but dove doesn't look like she owns any of it --- she is part of the decoration, another velvet lined thing for the cancerous agents of his camel cigarettes to slowly sink into. a stuffed bird gaining dust around her feathers; damned if she breathes, damned if she don't.
"i ain't gonna waste your time, dove," rustin drawls, sitting at her kitchen table at a weird angle. he hadn't fully risen from his barbiturate induced sleep --- there was another layer of methaqualone he needed to push through in order to start feeling things again. "ain't here as police either." he blinked lazily at her, his head shake more of a twitch than anything. cohle's boss had chewed him off for stalking dove's husband around town. if he were to find out he was inside whitfield's home he might get suspended for a while. wouldn't be the first time.
"just need someone t'a look me in the eye while they're talkin' to me." though his lids are heavy, rust's gaze is relentless. he watches her from across the table with the patience ( or the high ) of a saint. "did you spend the night with your husband?"










