The Demon's Flight • •

[indigo leigh bennett]

There was only one time in the whole year when Indigo felt stormy. The slightest thing could make her want to strike, and the rest of the time she was a low rumble of dark emotions. Unfortunately, that week coincided with one of the final weeks of the semester, which meant she was still on campus and still teaching. She couldn’t just take off for somewhere sunny and exotic, or bury herself in a mountain of character designs or cutscene sequences. Sure, she had given up many nights of sleep to try and push her emotions into tragic flashbacks that had been requested from her, but when those things took a great deal of time she hardly felt like she had made any progress with them before she passed out at her desk, lips inches away from her keyboard. She didn’t feel much like teaching either. She pushed herself through the motions, trying to keep her happy face on through the lectures and the office hours, but when she was alone she just sat doing very little. This wasn’t typical Indi-Leigh behaviour, and anyone who knew her would notice the stark difference.

What they didn’t know though was that Indi had been married when she was just nineteen, and divorced when she was twenty. The break-up of her marriage had happened this very week five years ago. It had left her jaded when it came to love, and Indi hadn’t had a relationship last more than a few dates since then. Beyond that though, it had made her feel like a fool, and managed to drive a wedge between the redhead and her family. They had wanted her to stick it out with Zach even after he took another woman to their bed and blamed Indi for it all. She didn’t miss him, but everything made her angry for these few days and then it was like someone flipped the switch and made things okay again. She would wake up one morning and be her usual sunny self again. Right now Indigo couldn’t wait for that morning to come. She couldn’t say she enjoyed feeling like a storm cloud ready to burst.

Wrapping up her final class for the day, leaving out her monologue about pushing and fighting for dreams, Indi decided she needed to do something. It wasn’t going to be anything remarkable or great, but she couldn’t go around waiting for someone to say the wrong thing and unleash hell on them. At twenty-five she knew better, but also didn’t care. If she wanted to drink until Broadway looked like a blur of bright lights then she would damn well do that. However, Indi didn’t want to drink alone. That was a low she wasn’t quite at yet. She was still a sociable person even in the worst of her moods. She sought out Noah’s office close to her own and knocked loudly on his door, waiting for him to open it before she spoke, skipping out on the pleasantries. “I need a drink, want to come with?” She asked bluntly, raising her eyebrow. She still wanted to crack open his shell and find out what kind of centre he had, but time was not on her side so far. Maybe plying him with alcohol might work better, but Indigo hadn’t thought of that until right this second, and even now it was only a secondary idea to her first; to get so drunk that there were two moons in the sky.

• • •

TAGGED! Noah Quinn O'Halloran
WORDS! 586!
OUTFIT! Unusual Charm!
LYRICS! Once We Were - - - Maryden Halewell
NOTES!

[Noah Quinn O'Halloran]

Noah hated this time of the year. It was too much and he was too far away from the one therapist he didn't have to explain the whole story to. Sure, he could have called her up and talked to her, she'd offered that option when he'd moved to another country, but he hadn't wanted to burden her now that he was away from South Carolina. She had also offered up a number of other therapists he could contact but that had always meant explaining it all to them over again and it was still a trauma he didn't want to deal with. Eventually, sure, he would get beyond the pain he was feeling but he would never get over the death of his brother and twin. They'd been so close their entire lives. It was hard to continue living knowing he wasn't around to share stories with. And yeah, he knew Nick would have lived his life the best way he could have, he wouldn't have moped around and run away like Noah had but Nick had always been the more outgoing of the pair of them.

He was making progress in that department. He'd had a dozen or more friends in Dublin, most of whom he still spoke with on a near daily basis but New York was a different matter entirely. He was trying, or rather, other people were trying and he was being a bit of an ass about it all. But that was still something he figured. His scary, blank stare didn't seem to be working on most people and there was only one, maybe two classes that saw him even remotely light up. Depression was a downward spiral he wouldn't wish on anyone at all but it was also something he was fighting to break free of. Sometimes he even though his inner demons were more dramatic than the teenage students in his classes. It was very unlikely, his issues stemmed from one problem, theirs stemmed from dozens; most of which could be easily remedied but it wasn't his place to say how. He was just the professor after all, there to teach and mold the young minds of the future.

Noah liked his office hours during this week more than his classes. He could be a bit of an ass and no one really said anything during his office hours. He figured they all thought he was just tired so they kept their meetings as short and sweet as possible. He was lucky in that none of his students, too his knowledge had a crush on him. They would be sadly disappointed that there wasn't more to him that he was willing to share; at least not right now anyway. Sighing when his packing up was interrupted by another knock, Noah stood, skirted his desk and reached to open the door even before he'd been within reach. He was ready to tell whichever student it was that they were too late and he was running late for another meeting, off campus when the words caught in is throat. A good thing since his mother had always told him she would know when he lied and had a nifty habit if calling him within hours of doing so; even when he'd been on the other side of the planet! He didn't want to deal with a call from his mother this week. "Yes." He said with absolutely no hesitation. A strong drink was exactly what Noah needed. And the company was someone he wasn't altogether opposed of. In fact, he actually liked Indigo. He turned back to his desk and decided everything could wait until next week, none of it was important. Instead, he grabbed his phone, wallet and keys. He locked up and held his hand out in the universal sign of 'after you'.

♦ ♦ ♦

Tag || indigo leigh bennett
Words || 641
Clothes || Depressed Designer
Music || Holding The Other --Lauren Alaina
Notes || <3

[indigo leigh bennett]

Typically, Indigo could turn her dark moods into fearsome battle sequences. They were either cutscenes that made game trailers the epic memories of the gaming conventions they debuted at, or they were the bosses that gamers cursed at and tossed their controllers across a room over. She had a job where her darkest moods could be turned into something incredible. She had burned castles down, destroyed entire citadels with demi-gods, and slaughtered innocent, nameless NPCs when a bad day had stuck her hard. It looked good in the end, and helped Indigo feel better when she wanted to scream and shout until her throat was sore and her voice hoarse. She already had something of a smoky voice, and people asked if she was sick when she was in perfect health, so when her throat was scratched and raw she sounded like death was just around the corner.

When she was teaching that wasn’t an escape she had. There was a schedule she needed to stick to, students who wanted to know all about the world she would soon be slipping back to, and assignments to grade. Sure, she could spend her weekends and nights back at her desk in the studio, working with her team or without them, but that didn’t do her any justice when she was worn out and aching after a day in a lecture hall. She was glad it would be over in a few more weeks. Indigo couldn’t spend all of her time teaching. It was an interesting spell, but when it came time to pack up her things and vanish again, she was glad to be gone. Compared to so many other professors, she was young and had a totally different way of engaging with the students. Indi never set out to be a teacher of any kind, so she never behaved like one. She could only assume it worked when those who took her class made all the right points in their assignments, and seemed enthusiastic in her classes. Still, she missed the atmosphere of the studio, the familiarity of her desk space. Video games were a huge part of her life and she needed to get back to them like a fish needed to be in water.

“Fantastic.” She said without much enthusiasm. It wasn’t him, not in the slightest, but regardless of his answer, Indi would have been drinking somewhere tonight. She was just a bit pleased that she wasn’t going to be alone at a bar where some guy would ultimately think she wanted his attention. Once Noah was ready, she led the way almost silently, feeling her skirt tickle her legs with each long stride she took. There was no patience for Indi tonight. She knew where she wanted to be, and there was no time to waste as far as she was concerned. Abandoning her car in the lot, she hailed a cab and shuffled inside, giving the cab driver the directions while she waited on Noah to follow her. It wasn’t a long journey, but the quicker they got there, the better. She had the crumpled notes in her hand ready when they arrived and climbed out of the car before letting out a relieved sigh at the sight of Casablanca. It was one of Indi’s go to places when she had the chance; something that surprised plenty of people, but then Indi was used to people being surprised by her. She was the type to stand out. “What are you drinking?” She asked, looking over her bare shoulder at Noah as she walked inside, tugging the doors open with the familiarity of a regular.

• • •

TAGGED! Noah Quinn O'Halloran
WORDS! 613!
OUTFIT! Unusual Charm!
LYRICS! Once We Were - - - Maryden Halewell
NOTES!