feel_human | saturday night and the moon is out

Tucked away off the road in Bon Temps, there's a road house. Warm light spills from its windows, and the sound of a jukebox playing drifts out into the muggy Louisiana night. The regular assortment of trucks and Hail-Mary-please-keep-this-lemon-goin'-just-a-little-longer cars sit in the dirt parking lot; what amounts to about half the town's small population... or, at least, of those of the 'drinking age and above' persuasion.

Inside, it's a bar of the type scattered all across the American South: homey, no-nonsense. Booths and tables. A man in a plaid flannel shirt wiping the bar; a crossdresser in the kitchen singing Gospel hymns and rolling his hips in time with the words just to scandalize the prep cook. A handful of waitresses, bustling about.

Sookie makes her way briskly through it all, a tray balanced on her palm and her eyes kept stubbornly front, as voices swarm around her. Aloud, and... less so.

...I’m just going to have one beer tonight Jesus one beer that’s all...

...better not gripe about me eating fries not after what I did for him last night...

...I cannot wait to get the hell out of this podunk town...

"Well, make sure you do, and before it’s too late," she responds, thoughtless, to the young man. "Because every year you wait? You just get more and more stuck here. Believe me, I know."

He stares at her. So do his parents.

So does the other table. And she realizes, too little too late, that he hadn't said that out loud, not at all. She laughs, uncomfortable. "I’ll get y'all some ketchup," she says, brightly, and flees, ponytail swinging against the nape of her neck as she goes.

Stupid, Sookie, she chides herself. Stupid, stupid, stupid.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

From:

gavemea_45

“Oh.” He takes a second to absorb that, then says, practically, “Well, then they might be a good source of information.”

Sam pauses before they reach the churchyard, catching at her arm to stop her as well as he looks for signs of disturbance.

“And it might not be a bad thing for her to know not to invite him in.”

From:

feel_human

She comes to a halt at the light touch of his hand and looks up at him.

"You're right," she agrees, and looks a little rueful. "You may have noticed Gran's real hospitable. And I couldn't see anythin' wrong with Bill's manners last night. You know... before. If he came by there's no doubt but that she'd invite him in."

Edited Date: 2022-09-23 06:14 pm (UTC)

From:

gavemea_45

“She’s amazing. But yeah, we want you to be safe there. If something happens - if she did - you can revoke the invitation and it’s supposed to make them leave. I’ve never seen it, though, so it’s better for him not to get in to start.”

Sam looks the churchyard over carefully. Nothing stands out, but better safe than sorry.

From:

feel_human

She looks from him to the quiet graveyard and back again. "You think it's safe to go through?"

Edited Date: 2022-09-23 06:50 pm (UTC)

From:

gavemea_45

“It looks okay,” he says. “I just wanted to see if there were any disturbances.” He looks a little uncomfortable, but continues gamely, “Unexplained new graves. Old ones dug up. That kind of thing.”

From:

feel_human

"If there were a new, unexplained grave, we probably woulda heard about it already," she tells him, and heads into the graveyard. "It'd be a whole sensation. Not much gets missed around here."

From:

gavemea_45

“Gossip spreads pretty fast, huh?”

He looks down at her as they walk.

From:

feel_human

"It's a better source of news than the paper," she confirms, and takes him along the pretty grass-lined path through the churchyard, the trees all hung with moss around them. "Sometimes seems people here don't have a lot to do besides be nosy about their neighbors. Believe me, as the town crazy girl, I know."

From:

gavemea_45

“I believe you.” It’s a pretty path, and one of the nicer graveyards he’s seen.

“Do people bother you a lot? Like that jerk last night?”

From:

feel_human

"Which one?" she asks, honestly unsure, which probably answers his question. After a second of reflection, her mouth makes a soft o of understanding. "Oh, Mack. Well – "

It's awkward, talking about this. She doesn't want his pity, but he may as well know, seeing as he's hitched himself to her cart. "I try not to let it bother me. I know I make people uncomfortable. My own mother was scared of me."

From:

gavemea_45

Sam reaches out to catch her hand with his. “You don’t make me uncomfortable,” he murmurs. “I know people can be scared of what they don’t understand. That doesn’t make it right.”

From:

feel_human

He catches her hand, and she slows her steps, turning to face him. "Why don't I make you uncomfortable?"

Her dark eyes search his face, but she can't find anything there aside from sincerity. "Is it because I can't hear you as well as I can other people? Doesn't it bother you that I might pick up on somethin' you wanna keep to yourself?"

Edited Date: 2022-09-23 07:15 pm (UTC)

From:

gavemea_45

“I don’t know. That could be part of it, I guess.” Sam shrugs, a little. “But I know a lot about the kinds of things that are out there that most people don’t believe in. Maybe that makes me more likely to accept. Anyway, you already know my biggest secret.”

From:

feel_human

"It's not people's biggest secrets that make them get so mad at me," she says, soft.

She doesn't know why it is she seems to be trying to get him to change his mind about her. Maybe it's just that even her nearest and dearest have a hell of a time with her disability, and mostly want to pretend it doesn't exist at all, and so she can't stop herself from pressing on his strange acceptance. "It's the little things. All the nasty little thoughts they can't stop themselves from havin'. The things that keep them up at night. Mistakes and hopes and dreams, things maybe they don't even yet recognize themselves."

Sookie shakes her head, though she doesn't let go of his hand. "Their most sacred and most awful thoughts, I hear them all. Or I could. Except I spend all day long workin' not to."

From:

gavemea_45

Dreams. Sam pushes away the memory of his strange nightmare about a woman he doesn't know in flames on the ceiling above him and shakes his head.

"That's the thing, though," he says. "You're not trying to listen in. You're trying not to."

From:

feel_human

For a second, flames erupt across her vision, and she blinks, her breath catching, before she focuses again and gives him a rueful half-smile.

"So you don't think I'm one of those monsters you hunt?"

From:

gavemea_45

"You're definitely not one of the monsters," Sam says. Firmly.

From:

feel_human

"No?"

She takes a step closer, her mouth tugging amused and a little teasing as she glances up at him from beneath dark lashes. Her eyes are bright with mischief. "I don't know, could be I'm tryin' to get you off your guard with all my feminine wiles, just waitin' for the right moment to strike."

From:

gavemea_45

Sam grins back at her, answering laughter in his glance. "Is that so? What happens when you strike?"

From:

feel_human

"Well, if I told you, it wouldn't be very effective, now would it?" she asks, prim.

From:

gavemea_45

He laughs and swings their linked hands back and forth. "I'll take my chances."

From:

feel_human

She grins at that, her teasing evaporating, and pulls him back into a slow stroll. "You have a real nice laugh, you know that?"

From:

gavemea_45

"No, I didn't," Sam tells her, letting her lead him along. "Thanks?"

From:

feel_human

"You're welcome," she says, amused all over again.

But it's probably the wrong time and place to flirt, even if he is holding her hand. She turns her attention back to the churchyard around them. "Anyhow, if history's somethin' you're interested in, there's plenty to be found here. This is where everyone in town gets buried. Been that way since the beginnin'."