CLOSED STARTER: @leemalkovich LOCATION: Lee’s Bed TIME: Around 4am
New York seems to have a strange draw on people. The lights, the wealth, the crime, the atmosphere– whatever it is that dazzles the millions of people who dream of moving to the Big Apple is utterly lost on Valerie. It wasn’t broadway or the pizza or the lifestyle that stuck out in her mind, but the trash. A filthy city fit for its filthy people.
So, it’s not by choice that she finds herself in the giant dumpster fire that is New York, but necessity. Where the Syndicate calls her, she goes.
Plagued by jet lag ( on top of an already inoperable circadian rhythm ), she’d abandoned her new apartment in search of the one thing she knew to be worthwhile in this city: Lee.
She lets herself into his apartment with the key she’d naturally made a copy of during her last visit, puts the kettle on, and waits for her brother to materialize. When he doesn’t, she navigates to his bedroom to find him sprawled across his bed in a deep sleep. The sight of it makes her smile. Even at 51 years old, even after everything, he still looks so innocent and childish in his slumber.
Valerie crosses the room and hops up onto his bed, startling her brother out of his sleep. Her wide smile falters a bit as she notices the state of his face even in the dim light.
“Christ, what’s happened to your face?” Delicate nose wrinkled in distaste, she brushes his hair back to peer at him closer through the dark. “You look like shit.” Her smile returns, and she hands him the mug of tea she’s just brewed, leaning forward to press a greeting kiss to his forehead. “Happy birthday. Sorry I’m a bit late.”
