Home Again- Aftermath - Gambler's Den

Johanna paid the driver quickly before hopping out of the cab to help Rickie to her feet from the backseat of the car. The dogs followed suit, of course. But the blind Caitiff waited for the cab to speed away before taking Rickie's arm, putting her own arm around her shoulders and leading herself and the dogs inside.

Smoke had fetched Johanna's cane and she let go of Rickie, starting a bath for her. But she otherwise did not speak, not wishing her rage to seep through at such a delicate time.

And Rickie? For all her pain and obvious suffering, a fair with of anger had started to seep through the broken and tattered facade.
Not anger with Luke though....
She was angry for having been exposed like she had by the Sheriff. For that woman, who couldn't possibly understand what it meant to be scarred and deformed, had done far worse to her than she probably realized. If anything, the Sheriff had been the one to break her...

She waited for the bath to fill, not speaking a word, not moving from where she was sitting until she heard the water being turned off, at which point she got up and moved to the bathroom, leaving the dogs where they were.

Angry.
Scared..
Broken...
Exposed....
Ridiculed.....

It wasn't for anyone to see. Why the Hell had the Sheriff done that to her?

"Thanks..." the word was a low mutter under her breath.

Johanna couldn't see her expression. But she knew that tone. She helped Rickie with whatever she needed before... simply backing off. Johanna was exceedingly angry. But her anger was with Luke. And it would remain so.

There was a bit of outrage where the Sheriff was concerned. Honestly, she had no way of knowing that that would be the way Rai would track her down. None. Nor did she realize... well...

And it wasn't as if Johanna could cry for her sister. That was the drawback and the upside to no longer having tear ducts.

Best to let Rickie calm down, if possible. But that just meant that Johanna would be ramped up even more.

She needed to hurt something. Badly.

Go, sit with her. The command was directed and Ghost and Mirror.

The dogs listened, they usually always did, and wandered off to the bathroom where Rickie had shed her clothes and eased herself into the warm water. Her eyes closed as she tried to let the heat wash away the anger and the frustration, though in all honesty.... it seemed like it just didn't want to leave. At least not right away.

The dogs laid down on the tiles and simply waited in silence though as the Caitiff with the amber eyes sank deeper into the water and suppressed a low sob.

And to think... for a little while... she'd actually been happy...

Smoke wandered into the bathroom with a clean towel between his teeth and sat, two. The final dog simply stood guard outside the door.

Johanna simply disappeared within the stone walls of the home. Far away thumping-- Johanna beating a wall with bare fists-- sounded sometime later.

Rickie seemed to shut the sound out by simply submerging herself in the water, disappearing from sight, disappearing from everything really as chances were, she'd stay like that until the water cooled and forced her to get out.

On the bed for Rickie, was her normal attire if she wished it. It was simply waiting for her when she finally did get out of the bath, near Johanna's discarded blind fold. Her walking stick was leaning in a corner of the room. But the punching had stopped at least.

Though with Rickie underwater, blocking out the sound, she would walk through the place to find two broken chairs. Johanna had, at this point, stepped out side to smoke, knuckles bleeding from her earlier rage. But the moment had now passed.

She didn't go to see though. She didn't get dressed. She simply dried off after having stepped out of the bath and moved to the bedroom where she carefully moved the clothes aside and slipped in under the covers, the desire to hide still strong and their bedroom being one of few places where it was still safe to hide.
Once of few places where she didn't cover her scars because Johanna already knew and because her sister's embrace and the closeness of her pack soothed her. In fact, the only day in years that she's slept without her sister to hold onto and her dogs there to proect them had been the one she'd woken up from that night....

Smoke was the first to jump up onto the bed, soon followed by Mirror and Darkness while Ghost waited on the floor for Johanna as the others curled up all around. They were one pack, all six of them. That Rickie and Johanna weren't furry had walked on all fours made no difference. And the pack stayed together.

The cigarette was stamped out and the sound of the door closing followed Johanna's slow but deliberate movements. Rickie could hear her counting her steps as she moved closer to the bedroom. The lights turning off followed her as she went. As she entered the bedroom, she shed herself of most of her clothes, leaving a tank top and her panties on as she often did, only slightly revealing her own scars the crisscrossed her shoulders and back down under the flimsy shirt.

She carefully edged her way to the bed and slid in under the covers and pulled her sister easily to her to hold her in a comforting embrace. No words were needed. Johanna would protect her... She would protect her until the night Final Death finally came for her.

Once Johanna had crawled into the bed, the last dog jumped up onto te covers and joined the rest of the pack while Ricke leaned into her sister's embrace with a low whisper.
"I would've called back...." it was all she really had to say without the anger or the fear rising to the surface again. For now she just wanted to sleep, and try to forget, for a little while, that she'd have to face tomorrow...

Johanna just held her, shushed her soothingly and ran her fingers through her hair.

It wasn't the fact that she didn't call back that bothered her, to be honest. It was the fact that she had sent the dogs home. That... That was what alarmed her more than anything else. Why couldn't Rickie see that? Why couldn't she see that that was so far outside of the normal for her that something had to be up?

But she wouldn't press the issue. Not tonight. Rickie had been through enough.

"Sleep, sister. I'll be here when you wake up," she said as calloused fingertips traced up and down her arms gently.

Too tired to do anything else, she slowly drifted off to sleep in the one place she knew for sure she was safe... where she'd always be safe....

Once Rickie was out, Johanna turned her head toward Ghost.

Bring me the fabric she came in with.

Ghost was hesitant to leave the bed, but did. He brought Johanna the sweats and the sheet that Rickie had discarded. When it was finished, he laid back down on the bed with them. Johanna felt each piece of fabric before determining which was the sheet. In a display of strength, she ripped a sizable portion of it off and folded it, placing it between the mattress and box spring on her side of the bed. The rest and the sweats were thrown across the room on the floor.

Only then did she allow herself to relax and sleep, knowing that the night would come early for her as it always did. But Rickie didn't have to worry. She would wake up safe in the arms of Johanna with the boys right there.

Next night

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Rickie would sleep in, get up late and spend most of her time idly and somewhat restlessly moving about the apartment as if she couldn't find the peace of mind she so desperately desired. Eventually, she'd tell Johanna that she would go out for some air and get a new cellphone, since hers had been left at Luke's, promising that she'd call in an hour.

She'd take Ghost and Darkness with her, though leave Smoke and Mirror with her sister.

There was no objection from Johanna. In fact, she only nodded. Within 20 minutes of Rickie's departure, Johanna took Smoke and Mirror and headed out, herself.