Hello Cold World [Brent]

[Bree Anise Ripsen]

It was weird how interesting the floor of her apartment could get when she was depressed. She hadn't lifted her eyes from it since last night; she was pretty sure she'd even fallen asleep with her eyeline trained in on the cream-colored carpet. Right now, though, she was sat on her couch, leaning forward, elbows resting on her knees. And from there, well, she just... stared into space. She didn't know what else there was to do.

The apartment was so eerily quiet. Taylor had made her stay at home while she manned the florist's; in her fellow fallen's eyes, there was no way she would be able to work without drifting off into some awful daydream. She was sure that Tay had heard all the shouting, heard the slamming of doors, heard everything. No matter how hard her friend tried to hide it, it was obvious that she knew what had happened. And, well, that was humiliating enough in itself. So she was actually quite glad that her friend had, for once, kept quiet. It just saved a whole lot of awkwardness.

Well. Awkwardness between those two, anyway. Had it really only been last night that she and Samson were laughing and joking together? It felt like something from a thousand years ago. Before she had to open her mouth and talk. Before she had to ruin everything.

But wait. Hoooold on. Why was she getting so worked up about this? Why did she feel so rubbish? It wasn't as if they'd meant anything at all to each other than friends and good times. Maybe it was that. Yeah, had to be. She'd lost a friend. That was never easy, never okay. And why? Because she'd been a stupid bitch who hadn't known when to shut up. It'd been her fault. Maybe that was why she felt like shit.

But, either way, what could she do? She doubted an apology would be enough. She didn't know what to do. Even if apologies were enough, it would be so awkward. At least, she'd feel awkward. She didn't know about him. She just coudn't rouse herself from the numb little trance that she was in, staring into space, staring at nothing.

Outfit: Clicky!
Tagged: Brent~
Notes: ;__;
Words: 386

[Brent Zachary McKinney]

So, since Brent was on a kind of mission thing of some sort to... clear things up (Meh, that was probably the best way of putting it.) that did include going to speak with Bree. He was almost certain that she'd get to hear Amy's own version of recent events pretty soon so Brent needed to get to her first so he wasn't disowned or something. He'd already been absent for almost a week. Hopefully Bree hadn't noticed that though. And, anyway, Brent was feeling positive that he wasn't going to go disappearing on everyone again any time soon. Not if he could help it.

He knocked on Bree's door with his uninjured arm then waited for a response. Bree had better be in, honestly. Brent hadn't just walked all the way here for nothing. It had taken effort and his precious time. Well, it wasn't that precious. Brent had an awful lot of time on his hands since he'd kind of been preoccupied from work and things because of the shit he'd gone through with Amy. Brent was quite worried about what Bree was going to say about this.

Outfit: Clicky! ♪ Notes: meeeep ♪ Tagged: Breeee

[Bree Anise Ripsen]

She didn't ever think that she'd be as close to snapping at someone as she was then. She was sharply stirred from her thoughts by a knock on her door. Although she was grateful for the intervention, she honestly didn't want to talk to anyone right now. It was likely, with the way she was feeling at the moment, that she would't be as polite or kind as she normally tried to be. It wouldn't be that she'd intentionally be horrible, oh no. Just the opposite. Which is what made her feel kind of worse about the whole 'having company' situation.

However, she didn't really think it would be good enough if she shouted an off-handed "Go away" through her front door, like her first thought had been to. No, she'd need to talk without a door in the way; it was just... easier. She sniffed, standing up and blinking back tears she didn't realize were there until the knock came, and walked toward the door.She laid her hand on the doorknob, and before pulling the door open, she relaxed her face so that it wasn't so much of a worried, saddened frown as it was a lazy expression.

She swung the door open to find Brent standing there, his arm in a sling. Where'd he disappeared to? She hadn't seen him for nearly a week. She'd actually been getting kind of worried about her demon friend. So... she couldn't really send him off, not when it was kindofmaybe nice to see him. The ghost of a smile traced her lips as she looked at her friend. "Hello, stranger." she said. Her tone surely would've been teasing if she wasn't in such a bad mood. "Wanna come in?"

Outfit: Clicky!
Tagged: Brent~
Notes: kindofshleepyshush
Words: 306

[Brent Zachary McKinney]

It didn't take long for Brent to notice that Bree seemed kind of off. He instantly started wondering what could possibly be wrong with her but he was left without a clue since he'd spent the past week either hiding in his house or stuck in hospital. He didn't like it at all when Bree wasn't her usual self because he could always tell how different she was from normal. Brent thought that even he could manage a better smile than that, and now that was saying something.

"Hi there, that'd be nice." Brent did, indeed, attempt to out-smile Bree only because he knew it was going to be easy. He reckoned that he'd succeeded in his spontaneous -and weak- attempt. And with that knowledge to cheer him up further, Brent entered Bree's flat but turned to frown at her almost immediately, an accusatory tone to his quiet voice. "Something's wrong." His curious expression showed that he expected some sort of explanation in return. That would also mean that Brent would be able to delay the things he had to say for a bit longer too which he couldn't help but feel glad about.

Outfit: Clicky! ♪ Notes: meeeep ♪ Tagged: Breeee

[Bree Anise Ripsen]

What was Brent even doing here? She hadn't been expecting a visit from anyone, let alone him. And, even if she had, she would hardly have wanted the visit to go ahead, not now. It wouldn't have been ideal, to say the least. There was only so much false smiles and happy tones of voice could hide... and if Bree as asked about anything, she couldn't lie about it. Which was why Bree hid how she was feeling half of the time. Because, well, she didn't really want to worry everyone with her issues. It just wasn't worth the fuss.

She let her smile widen slightly, before standing aside and letting the man pass before she shut the door behind him. However, just as she was about to ask him why he was here, what had come for... he kind of beat her to it. Something's wrong. Well. That hadn't taken very long at all. But then, it was only to be expected. They'd known each other for a little less than four years. And he'd been her best friend for about three and a half of that.

She sighed, letting a slightly weak laugh leave her lips. "It's that obvious, huh?" she asked, pushing her hand through her hair. Well. She wouldn't have lied and said no, everything was fine, even if she could. No way would hat have been fair. But... she didn't exactly have to say anything, did she? It might have just been Bret showing concern, like a normal, good friend would, but... she didn't need the concern. It'd all been her fault; she wasn't the one who people should have been worried about.

She sighed again, slowly. "I...I'd rather not... y'know, if... if that's okay with you." she said plainly. She didn't want to have that conversation right now. Brent had come for a reason; it was clear. And she couldn't say that she wasn't wondering why. "Soooo... what are you, y'know, here for?"

Outfit: Clicky!
Tagged: Brent~
Notes: kindofshleepyshush
Words: 352

[Brent Zachary McKinney]

Brent smirked a bit, nodding at Bree. Yup, it was that obvious. To him, anyway. But it wouldn't exactly take a genius, that wasn't the fallen's best friend, to work that out. He had to stop himself from letting out a growl of frustration as Bree practically refused to tell him anything. That just meant that he'd have a much shorter amount of time before he spoke. Not that it should matter too much since that's mostly why he'd come here in the first place. Apart from to prove he was still around.

"Uh, well, I haven't been out in a while... kind of. So yeah. And some things have happened which she should probably hear about before someone else gets here and starts twisting the truth." Brent hadn't exactly meant to end up sounding so annoyed by the end of his last sentence and sighed loudly as he sat himself down on Bree's sofa. "I don't think you're gonna like this. At all." he muttered, not managing to look his friend in the eye. Why exactly was he doing this again?

Outfit: Clicky! ♪ Notes: meeeep ♪ Tagged: Breeee

[Bree Anise Ripsen]

Bree felt bad about not telling him. Really, she did. But... ugh. She didn't even know why she didn't want to. It wasn't anything important, not anything she could help. But every time she thought about giving in and telling him about it, a rush of an implacable emotion. It was the same feeling that she'd gotten in the... in the florist that time. When she and Brent were confessing shit about their lives. Why was she feeling that way? This was nothing like that. It was the same feeling... but... none of this made sense.

She shook the thoughts from her head as she heard Brent's voice. Okay. Well. He seemed maybe kind of a little annoyed that she hadn't said anything, which just made her feel worse. She sighed, shooting him an apologetic look as he spoke. But she listened to what he had to say, and... okay. There were things that had to be said. It was as if every little word was screaming at her to share what was going on with her. It just made her feel awful that he'd come to talk and... that was the opposite of what she wanted to do.

So maybe guilt was the reason she ended up sitting down carefully next to him. But he said she should hear about things? Before... someone twisted the truth. It didn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that someone was Amy. She just nodded slowly. She needed to hear things. So be it. Maybe... maybe this would all turn out okay? Even if the demon had said that she wouldn't like what she was about to hear.

"Hey," she said softly, gently. "Try me." She made a mental note to keep her cool, no matter what it was that Brent had to say. She would try her best to stay calm. Now wasn't exactly the time to go off on an anger fueled rant. Neither was any time. But... this time especially.

Outfit: Clicky!
Tagged: Brent~
Notes: meep
Words: 341

[Brent Zachary McKinney]

Ugh, Brent really didn't want to do this. But it was for the best and he knew that. "We... had another child. One I didn't know was mine until about last week, s-something like that. I killed him. I di-didn't mean to originally. I got a-angry. And I came back a few days ago aiming to kill the both of us two, which, y'know, wouldn't have worked anyway. And that's when she shot me." Brent glanced down at his arm and couldn't help but pray this was the last time he'd have to tell this tale. It wasn't as if he had any other friends that needed to know so it wasn't looking that likely, which was great for him. Maybe Brent had left out a whole lot of detail but this wasn't a subject he was comfortable talking about. He hadn't even mentioned any names but from what he said it had to have been obvious to Bree, right? Because Brent didn't think he ever wanted to say them. He wanted to move on and forget like he had started to do before she had turned up again.

Outfit: Clicky! ♪ Notes: 'm tireed ♪ Tagged: Breeee

[Bree Anise Ripsen]

Okay. Well. She wasn't quite expecting what happened to happen so quickly. She was expecting it to be a bit like the florist incident, except this time she wouldn't be expected to say anything about herself, or how she was doing. Which suited her more than the previous time. Instead of having to give to get, she didn't have to do anything. Just listen.

But it wasn't quite like that. For one thing, this came out a lot faster. It was as if he had about five seconds to tell her everything. It was rushed, although she couldn't help but notice the occasional stammer in his voice as he spoke. It wasn't until after he'd finished speaking that she actually registered what he'd actually said. And... Whoa. That was one thing she never expected to hear from one of her friends, to say the least. She sat in silence for a few moments, letting what he had just said sink in.

Okay. So, according to him, there'd been another kid. One that he didn't know was his. And... Well... He'd killed him. A silent prayer sounded in Bree's mind, a hope that this was all a sick lie, that she'd be woken up by the pain that would hopefully soon accompany. But... She felt nothing. Nothing but a disappointed hope. And that was when the anger rose inside her. A child, a baby, had just died because of her best friend's reckless actions. That was just... She didn't have any words for how disappointed she was in him.

However angry and upset she was, though, she couldn't say she didn't understand. He'd said that he hadn't meant to, even if that was accompanied by an originally. And... Amy. She knew that he hated Amy, hated every piece of her. What better way to hurt Amy than to kill her child? It all added up. Even so, it didn't make it right. Didn't make it fair.

She closed her eyes, sighed,and turned back to face him, burying the anger deep inside her when she realised that he regretted it. It was... Well, it was bad. But... She couldn't exactly leave him to deal with something like this by himself. That wasn't what friends did. No, not all. "Look," she said. "I can't say that I'm not extremely angry or disappointed in you, but... I can't say that I don't understand either. It'll...it'll be fine." She wanted him to be sure that she would be here for him, no matter what. That was, in her opinion, what friendship was about.

Outfit: Clicky!
Tagged: Brent~
Notes: wasn't expecting her to react like this
Words: 459

[Brent Zachary McKinney]

Brent forced himself to keep looking in Bree's general direction. She wasn't shouting at him, not yet anyway, that was... good. It also made him feel better about getting this out of the way and just telling Bree what was going on instead of keeping away from her like he had done last time. This time it had been quite different though, Brent supposed. He did feel more curious about what was wrong with Bree now that he wasn't feeling quite as anxious. The demon decided he'd wait a bit longer before bugging her for answers.

"I... uh, thanks." Brent nodded his head at the blonde, "Yeah, who knows, maybe things'll pick up again. I have a feeling they might." This was kind of strange, Brent being sort of positive about things. He didn't say that he knew that if things did start working out again, it gave more of an opportunity for everything to come crashing down like it had done before. It wasn't fair but Brent guessed that he'd have to deal with these things, other people did too. Although they didn't have to deal with the same things he did. He'd be concerned if they did.

Outfit: Clicky! ♪ Notes: 'm tireed ♪ Tagged: Breeee

[Bree Anise Ripsen]

What had just happened was still kind of registering with the woman as she spoke. She was still feeling a mix of emotions about it, but... nothing too strong was surfacing. Maybe it was just the fact that she was kind of numb. Yeah. She was kind of numb from everything that had happened. This. ...That. Yes. She was just... numb. That was what that horrible feeling in her gut was. Just an awful, stomach turning numbness. ...Okay, maybe not. Not if she could describe the feeling with those adjectives. But if it wasn't that... then... what was it exactly?

She was stirred softly from her thoughts by Brent's voice. And some... well, some surprisingly optimistic words. Optimism wasn't normally something she heard from her friend. It was nice to hear, don't get her wrong. It was so very, very nice to hear from him. Because, well, that hadn't really happened in a long time. But still. If she was honest... even though she was normally the optimistic one in these types of situations... she could do little more than half smile and nod. She wasn't in the mood to give long winded pep talks like she normally did. If she didn't truly mean what she said, anyway, then what was the point?

"Yeeeeah," she said, the wan smile still pulling lightly at her lips, "Y'know, what with 'the only way is up' and all that crap." She laughed weakly. Gosh, what was this? She didn't like it one bit. She hated being anything other than happy. But, then again, she hadn't been truly happy for a long time. She stayed silent for a few moents, before looking at him. "So," she began, "Anything else you have to discuss with me? Y'know, while you're still here."

Outfit: Clicky!
Tagged: Brent~
Notes: i'mma tyre x__x
Words: 308

[Brent Zachary McKinney]

The hint of a smile on his lips, Brent nodded his head at Bree. It seemed that whilst things were getting better for him, the opposite was happening for his friend. Maybe he'd be able to help? Or at least try to. Or... maybe just find out what was going on in the first place before doing something stupid and messing things up for Bree like he guessed would happen because, well, when Brent was added into a bad situation it more often than not ended with fire, injuries and just generally bad, Brent-caused things.

Okay, now was definitely the time for answers. And Brent wasn't leaving until he got some, he hoped Bree cottoned onto that soon enough. "Well, you should probably tell me what's going on." he suggested, knowing that it would be best if he wasn't all pushy about this. He knew that he wouldn't like that if he were in Bree's position right now. It was annoying him that he didn't know what was wrong, Brent was kind of anxious to find out what it was or he'd just get more annoyed with both himself and Bree.

Outfit: Clicky! ♪ Notes: 'm tireed ♪ Tagged: Breeee

[Bree Anise Ripsen]

It was great to see a smile, even if it was barely noticeable, on the demon's face. She tried to smile back as best she could because, well, this wasn't about how "woe-is-me" she was feeling right now. Not that she was even feeling that way, of course. She just felt a little depressed, no worse than usual. The only thing that was worrying her about it was the fact that, no matter what she did, the feeling just wasn't going away. She didn't understand. She still had everything she'd had before, but felt like she had nothing. It was a strange, unpleasant feeling.

Anyway, back to this. It wasn't her problem that was being discussed, so what was the point in directing attention to herself by making it clear that she wasn't exactly in high spirits? There wasn't a point. It was selfish and unfair, so why bother? She could just sit this one out. She knew that it was a cold world, and that she'd be here forever, so she may as well start making the best of everything she'd never have. In other words, simply not worrying about her problems, helping others with theirs... crap like that.

Oh. Well. What was going on. The angel looked at her friend with narrowed, curious eyes. What exactly did he mean by that? She was pretty sure it was just her being stupid, and that she should have known what he was alluding to, but... she really had no clue. If it was to do with her personally, hen haha, no. She wasn't saying anything. But, as he'd said earier, he hadn't gotten out for a while. So that could mean anything. Sh could... she could take it in a different way, right? That seemed a lot safer.

"Uh, you really haven't missed that much." she said, pushing her hair behind her ear. Which was true; he hadn't missed that much. Just her sat at home alone, is what he'd missed. "It's been kind of quiet around here, y'know." It sounded kind of half-hearted, even though it was true. It was a feeble step around the question.And she knew that. She was kind of clutching at straws here.

Outfit: Clicky!
Tagged: Brent~
Notes: i'mma tyre x__x
Words: 390

[Brent Zachary McKinney]

Getting aggravated wasn't going to benefit anybody here, and Brent knew that very well so made sure that he didn't get wound up over this and start demanding that he got some answers out of Bree. He had to think calm thoughts about Fall Out Boy, Biffy Clyro and Ke$ha or just, well, anything that was going to be remotely calming to him at the moment. Thinking about them and mentally akjshjdvkfing over Simon Neil did help quite a bit. Whoever said bands couldn't save lives was wrong because they often stopped Brent from losing his temper. Chases helped with that too but Brent couldn't exactly drag him around everywhere with him.

He raised a brow at his friend instead of glaring or snapping and being generally more Brent-ish and horrible like he had been recently. "You know what I meant, Bree." Brent sighed. See, that could maybe be considered being almost nice. Sort of. Whatever, he could've said something dozens of times worse and was kind of itching to now. There was only so much niceness he could manage in one conversation. Brent needed to work on that.

Outfit: Clicky! ♪ Notes: 'm tireed ♪ Tagged: Breeee

[Bree Anise Ripsen]

Bree thought she'd already made it pretty clear that she didn't want to discuss her problems, if they could even be called problems. It just... no. It didn't matter. Not in comparison with something as huge as what Brent had just told her. She didn't like being worried about in the first place, and it was even worse under these types of circumstances. So why Brent had questioned her on it further, she had absolutely no idea.

She just blinked at him with her cool blue eyes, before sighing in defeat, her teeth finding their way to her lip and beginning to nibble at it slightly. What could she do? She couldn't really refuse to tell him because, well, he'd just told her all that. It was the florist all over again, except this time, it'd taken a bit less to get him to open up. Which is why she felt so bad about hiding something so fucking petty from him. It was really stupid.

She looked away for a minute, staring at the floor, tracing the carpet with her toe. "I know..." she mumbled guiltily, pushing her glasses a little further up her nose. "I just... I don't... I don't quite know how to put it..." Where did she start? It wasn't exactly a long story, just one that she found it hard to put into words. She felt stupid, was the problem. Stupid for getting involved with a person, only to have it go to shit. Again. Hold on. Wait. Nothing. It was nothing.

Sighing, she looked back up from the floor, and started fiddling with the ends of her hair. "Long story short," she said casually, as if what she was saying meant nothing and was just a silence filler, "S'over. Take that as you will." She wasn't going to go into details, because then he'd have to describe how stupid she'd been about everything. She most certainly wasn't naming names. No, Brent would have to figure that stuff out on his own.

Outfit: Clicky!
Tagged: Brent~
Notes: i'mma tyre x__x
Words: 353